Novacane
by mydearjori
Summary: "But it was so hard to not love Jade. Someone who looked at her like she was the only person in the room or kissed her like it was the last time, every time that their lips touched, could not just be ignored. Whether Tori liked it or not, she was falling hard for Jade West and there was not a damn thing she could do about it." A.U - Twoshot.
1. Chapter 1

**Novacane.**

* * *

The night sky blanketed Los Angeles like a child's favorite blanket might protect him from imaginary monsters. The monster in this particular case was the one of Tori Vega's panic. At age twenty two she supposed that she should stop relying on her older sister to drive her to and from her destinations. Her current location was a raging party in some guy's frat house. The swimming pool was littered with empty beer cans, broken bottles littered the front lawn and the music's bass was so low that the trees outside shook with each thump. Her sister, a very irresponsible Trina Vega, was nowhere to be found a couple of hours ago. Upon discovering that the car was gone as well, Tori wasted no time turning toward the nearest fire hydrant and kicking it with all her might.

The pain jolted up from the tip of her toe to her knee. With a pained and frustrated shout, she pulled her purse closer to her person and started the walk back to her apartment. The warm breeze whipped her hair around her face as she mentally cursed her inconsiderate sibling. She would have to walk through the bad part of the neighborhood just to get halfway home. The divide was fairly obvious; once she reached the end of the block, the houses got more and more in disarray. Unattended grass, bent wired gates, unbelievable amounts of litter and other questionable substances. Her bottom lip found its way between her teeth as she hoped upon all hope that she could make it home safely without an issue.

Even when she got past this part of the neighborhood, she knew there was another right before she got to her apartment. The fact that she had no money on her for bus fare either was something that nagged at her until she sucked in a frustrated breath and sped her walking. The sound of a lighter being flicked open made her spine stiffen and the hair on the back of her neck rise. Cursing under her breath, she chanced a quick glance behind her. Three guys wearing leather jackets and heavy boots with ripped and worn jeans tucked into them greeted her line of vision. The silence was deafening as the leader raised the lighter to the blunt between his teeth. Her bottom lip twitched in fear as she fought to keep it from trembling. With her heels on, there was no way she could outrun the guys if they did decide to chase her. Considering the glass and other unidentifiable objects on the ground, it was nearly pitch black outside with the lack of streetlights, it would only slow her down were she to remove her shoes.

With her luck, she'd even trip over the uneven and cracked concrete. Well, one way or another, she was fucked. The guys seemed to advance several feet in the span of the five seconds that she turned around and glanced at them again. Her heart pounded against her ribcage as she heard a deep, raspy voice call out.

"Aye, beautiful! Where you off to so quick?" The olive skinned leader questioned, now close enough that Tori could smell the heavy scent of weed rolling off of him in waves. Her hair whipped around her face as she turned back around and attempted to run in her heels anyway, rationalization thrown to the wind. Fight or flight instinct kicked in and it was telling her to get the fuck away from them. Halfway down the next block, her left heel snapped beneath her and she buckled, unable to keep her balance at the speed she was attempting. The trio wasn't far behind her at all and they crowded around her in seconds after she was down. Their voices mashed together in her frantic mind as her heartbeat sped out of control, convinced already that she was good as dead from that point. A sharp, deep, yet feminine voice sliced through the fog in her mind like a steak knife.

"_Hey_!" The voice rang out and the silence that followed it was one that one would feel the weight of before they were verbally ripped to shreds. Whoever these guys were, they fucked up, and bad.

"Bennett, Mike, Red! Get your asses over here." The voice hissed. Tori hesitantly looked up from where she lay face down on the concrete. As she moved her hand to push herself up, she felt a shard of glass lodged shallowly in her palm. With a quiet hiss, she yanked the piece out and tossed it in the dead grass, thankful that it wasn't bad enough to draw more than a bead of blood. Her brown eyes moved to the four other people in the immediate area. The woman who saved her was probably taller than she was with pale white skin and raven colored hair that contrasted perfectly against her face. Her icy blue eyes were glaring daggers as she verbally destroyed the three guys in front of her, too low for Tori to hear. A wave of gratefulness washed over her at the sight of her savior.

She scrambled to her feet as quietly as she could in order to keep the attention away from herself. Suddenly the trio of guys jogged off in the opposite direction averting their eyes as they ran right past her, off to do whatever. Brown eyes locked on slightly calmed blue ones several feet away. A smirk curved up a corner of the pale woman's lips as she crossed her arms over her generous chest. Tori took a step forward to get a better look at the woman who practically saved her life and the throb in her foot came back ten-fold from when she kicked the hydrant. That, coupled with the fact that she had been running on it made her buckle once more. Pale arms were around her in an instant, right before she could hit the ground. The raven haired woman stood her upright and took a step back.

"What's some pretty little rich girl doing out here at three in the morning? Death wish? Or are you just stupid?" The woman asked with that ever-growing smirk of hers. It wasn't flirtatious in the slightest up close as it had looked from afar. The woman's black long sleeved shirt with lace covering the top of her chest and tight dark denim jeans helped her blend into the night eerily. After realizing that the mysterious woman was talking to her and was impatiently awaiting a reply, Tori opened and closed her mouth several times to try and get through the shock in her mind. Jesus Christ, she was almost killed.

"Look, kid, go home. Get the fuck out of my territory." The pale woman spoke again with a dismissive eye roll as she made to turn and walk away.

"I'm twenty two." Tori finally found her voice, and though it hadn't said what she had wanted it to, at least it said anything at all. The blue eyed woman turned around with a quirked pierced eyebrow in her direction.

"I'm not a kid." Tori finished weakly, her confidence deteriorating under the other woman's gaze. Blue eyes looked her up and down as if just seeing her for the first time. With a slow nod and an unchanging expression, Tori suddenly found her wrist being grabbed by a pale hand and the next thing she knew, she was being yanked into one of the broken down houses behind the ones they were in front of. It was a complicated turn or two before a thick mahogany door was being slammed behind them and Tori watched in wary fascination as the pale woman turned and bolted several locks on the door. Once she slid the last chain into place, she turned around and flicked the light on before placing her hands over her hips and looking Tori over once more.

The overhead bulb flickered several times before a bright light cast down over them. Tori squinted immediately, but the woman in front of her was obviously used to the drastic light changes. In the light, the half-Latina could tell that the raven haired woman was painfully gorgeous. Her eyes that shined blue outside were a deep cerulean that her mind attempted to drown in as soon as the realization hit. There was not a single flaw on the pale skin exposed and the three piercings in each ear as well as the one in her eyebrow was shiny enough that the light glinted off of the metal. Her hourglass figure was heavily accentuated by the tight clothes that she wore, yet her entire presence screamed that she was in control. It took the tan woman several moments to realize that the beauty in front of her was talking.

"…can't stand out there too long in case someone does a drive by. You're a fucking idiot, you know that, right? Who the hell walks through _here_ this late at night alone and dressed like _that_?" The woman ranted, gesturing to the little black mid-thigh length mini dress Tori had worn to the party.

"My-" The half-Latina paused to clear her dry throat.

"My sister ditched me at this party a couple of blocks away from here. I just needed to get home." She muttered shamefully, the look on the pale woman's face was enough to make her feel like a total dumbass. Blue eyes narrowed as if she were the scum of the earth, though that was something coming from someone who apparently lived _here_.

With a miniscule shaking of her head, the taller woman nodded toward Tori's feet.

"You're not getting home like that. With a fucked up ankle and a broken heel? You'd be lucky if you even make it to the end of the street." She continued with that stupid, sexy smirk that Tori was growing to detest more and more for the way it's owner patronized her. With an indignant huff, Tori made to walk around the woman and leave the tiny one bedroom house with her last shred of dignity before a pale hand was around her wrist and spinning her back around.

"No, seriously. It would be really stupid to try and walk back. Stay here for the night." A flicker of something vulnerable flashed in those ice blue eyes and it made Tori stop in her tracks even though it was gone in half of a second.

"I don't even know your name…" The half-Latina murmured in the sudden silence after the question.

"West." The woman said automatically then ran a hand through her onyx tresses and sighed quietly.

"Jade. Jade West." Tori fought and failed to hold back the tiny smile pulling at her lips now that she was able to put a name to that face.

"I'm Tori Vega." The brown eyed woman grinned, never mind how shifty of a location she was in, the prospect of making new friends was something that always raised her spirits.

"So… what are you doing here? You don't look like…" The brunette trailed off, twisting the brown strands around her long fingers as she trailed off for fear of offending the woman offering her shelter. Jade couldn't have been much older than she was, so what was she doing over here?

"I'm running an international drug cartel." Jade said with a look of utter seriousness that, seconds later, turned into a playful grin that didn't even look out of place on the obviously badass woman.

"What? I don't look like the stereotypical street rat?" Jade continued after chuckling at the look on Tori's face.

"No, I mean, not that you are, just… you're too pretty to be out here like this…" Tori was having a difficult time wording her sentences with the way that the blue eyed gaze a couple feet away seemed to dig into her mind.

"So you think I'm pretty?" The pale woman took a step toward her with an alluring grin on her face. Tori's bottom lip wedged between her teeth as a chill jolted up her spine. It wasn't at all that she wasn't attracted to Jade because, let's just be honest, the woman was heartbreakingly beautiful. It was the entire situation she was in. Without this woman being in the area, there was a good chance that she would have become one of those girls she always saw on TV that went missing one day and their bodies were found several weeks or months later.

"You're gorgeous." Tori breathed before she could stop herself and in the next second she was pressed against the nearest wall in the hallway with Jade's lips pressed firmly against her own. A large breath released from Tori's lips and her body deflated as all the tension was gone at once and she let her purse drop to the hardwood floor. A soft humming rang from her throat as Jade's soft lips caressed her own. A pale hand found its home on her waist, pulling her forward as the rest of Jade's body pressed her back against the wall. Brown eyes fluttered closed as Jade's other hand wove through her brunette tresses. Their lips parted with a soft noise as their foreheads rested together. Without warning, Tori pulled Jade back to her body with a fervor that surprised them both.

Her tan arms wrapped around Jade's neck to bring the raven haired girl closer than before and her eyes squeezed shut as she felt the pale woman's lips bite at her collar bone and immediately soothe it over with her cool tongue. There was a gentle pulling at the back of her dress as Jade maneuvered the zipper down with a practiced ease. Within seconds, Tori was clad in nothing but her purple laced bra and underwear set after she kicked off her less than functioning heels. A husky moan of appreciation was heard from the woman in front of her and blue eyes met brown with blown pupils and lowered lids. Tori reached down and gripped the bottom of Jade's black shirt with one hand, using the other to help pull it over the other woman's head without error. Her large chest was barely contained by the black bra she wore and Tori's fingers faltered as her mind became distracted by the breasts in front of her.

Jade's smirk seemed to never leave her lips as Tori's back suddenly arched off of the wall with Jade's fingers meeting slick folds. A whimper escaped the half-Latina's lips at how much she needed this right then. Jade West was a shot of Novacane through her veins, quelling her worries. Without so much as a thought, two fingers slid into Tori and pumped so slowly that the brunette thought she would die if Jade didn't speed up. The half-Latina shoved herself down on those wickedly talented pale fingers and suddenly they were hitting spots that she would swear she didn't know existed. Her lips parted and she let out a high-pitched whine when Jade's fingers began to curl up with every pump of her fingers.

From her hazy mind, Tori barely cracked her eyes open in time to watch Jade's wandering lips come right back to lock onto hers. Tori's tongue shoved into the pale woman's mouth without an ounce of hesitation as she rode the hand between her quivering legs. Suddenly, Jade used her free hand to yank Tori's leg around her jean clad waist for a better angle. The feelings that curled and twisted the brown eyed woman's stomach got impossibly more intense. Jade's teeth bit down on Tori's swollen bottom lip hard enough to draw blood and the half-Latina had an earth-shattering climax, moaning deeply into Jade's mouth. Those wickedly wonderful fingers slid out of her tight center with ease and when brown eyes fluttered open, she was greeted with the unbelievably sexy sight of Jade licking her soaked fingers clean.

Tori wasn't sure what the hell she was doing, sleeping with an admittedly perfect stranger, but if Jade was her own personal drug, she wouldn't care in the slightest if she never broke her addiction.

Sunlight streamed in through the boarded bedroom windows at around nine in the morning when Tori's eyes cracked open. She knew immediately that she was not in her room back in her apartment, but when the previous night came rushing back to her all at once, a small smile pulled at her lips. She turned over in the pale arms wrapped around her waist and continued to grin at the fact that the obviously badass Jade West was spooning with her. Of course she had to be the big spoon, not that Tori minded being wrapped in the arms of the pale beauty. Jade was still fast asleep as those brown eyes traced over every part of her face. The seven times that Tori climaxed earlier that night left her body sore and exhausted, but it was well worth the exertion. The brunette didn't know how long she lay there, using her finger to trace over Jade's eyebrows, caress her cheeks and neck. She was admiring the closest thing she had seen to perfection in her life. The peaceful innocence displayed on the pale woman's face did not go unnoticed. It was absolutely beautiful.

Blue eyes fluttered open and landed on wonder filled brown ones. A smirk curved up the corner of her lips as she caught Tori in the act of watching her sleep.

"Stop it." Jade mumbled cutely, or it would be cute, had her husky morning voice not sent a jolt straight to the brown eyed girl's center. Their naked bodies were intertwined throughout the night, legs tangled and arms wrapped around each other. Tori smiled and placed a lingering kiss on those lips, lips that she had vivid memories of doing wonderful things to her body. The raven haired woman cupped the back of Tori's neck to draw her closer. Their lips parted and soon enough tongues were exploring each other's mouths. After an undetermined amount of time, they broke apart with the soft sound of their parting lips. Jade pushed herself up into a sitting position and reached over to the rickety bedside table where she rummaged through the slightly crooked drawer for a moment.

Her pale hand came out, clutching a previously rolled blunt and gold lighter. Brown eyes widened slightly at the sight, never having been opposed to weed per-se… yet something about Jade made her think that the woman was too flawless to be into such a thing. Tori knew that she was acting like a lovesick puppy with the way that the blue eyed woman wrapped her around those sinfully pleasurable pale fingers, but she had a hard time finding the will to snap out of it. The flick of the lighter was the only sound in the otherwise silent room. Thin streams of light filtered in through the small amount of space between the wooden boards nailed over the windows and highlighted Jade's face with an angelic glow. The fire lit the end of the blunt and pale fingers snapped the lighter shut before throwing it back in the drawer. Tori could only watch in faint curiosity as Jade took a large hit and allowed the thick, white smoke to billow from between her lips lazily. Blue eyes turned on her with a quirked eyebrow and Jade flashed that sexy, half amused, half teasing smirk once again.

"Am I right to assume that this rich white girl doesn't smoke?"

Tori frowned slightly at the small jab and rolled over onto her stomach, propping herself up on her elbows atop the white sheets. She bit the inside of her cheek as she caught the first part of what the woman said.

"You know, I'm half Latina. And I'm not…opposed to smoking. I just… haven't." Tori replied as a blush crawled up her neck to her cheeks.

"So this rich _half Latina_ wouldn't mind if I corrupted her then." Jade continued to smirk and took another large hit from the blunt between her fingers. Tori watched in confusion as the pale woman didn't release the smoke this time, but leaned down and connected their lips in a kiss, shot gunning the smoke into her mouth. Tori attempted to take the hit gracefully, but the smoke made her cough heavily. It was to be expected, as it was her first time, hence the reason that Jade let her cough it out without so much as a blink of an eye. Tori immediately flipped over onto her back and sat up, considering that a coughing fit was much worse lying on her stomach. Her hands clutched the white comforter tightly until her chest stopped heaving.

"Shit, that hurt." The half-Latina muttered mainly to herself, brown eyes flicking over to meet the bright blue ones of her current lover. Jade let out a husky chuckle that made the brunette's stomach do flips. The pale woman continued to smoke the burning wrap between her fingers and the way that Tori's eyes kept wandering over to her made Jade's smirk increase in size.

"If you want it, come and get it." Jade grinned wickedly and crooked her finger in Tori's direction, beckoning the shorter girl closer. Tori got on her knees on the bed and shuffled toward the raven haired woman's body. Right after Jade had taken a hit, Tori leaned down and cupped her hand around the back of the woman's neck, drawing her close and connecting their lips in a searing, smoky kiss. Moments later, they finally pulled away and Jade placed her special blend, wrapped the day before, in Tori's hand.

The half-Latina observed the burning blunt for a moment before placing it between her lips, much like Jade had. The pale woman hadn't allowed her tongue to touch the edge, simply placed it between her pursed lips and inhaled. It seemed simple enough with all of the times that Tori had witnessed her friends smoking first hand. When the smoke billowed from between her parted lips and the wrap was back in Jade's possession, Tori moved her hand in front of her face as a dopey grin pulled at her lips.

"Fuck, everything is so slow, Jade…" The brown eyed woman trailed off, a curious frown taking over her features as she continued to move her hand back and forth. Jade had gotten high on so many things so many times that it took much more for her to get to where Tori was. The raven haired woman only grinned, enjoying her current distraction. She wasn't at all joking when she said that she ran an international drug cartel and she had so many people working for her that she never had to leave the state, but her 'job' was demanding and dangerous. Amusements for the night came and went, but this skinny half Latina with legs that went on for miles and that stupidly beautiful smile of hers was at the forefront of Jade's mind and she couldn't determine why. Tori Vega was so much different than the other girls, and guys, that she had slept with. There was a certain purity that one just simply _couldn't find_ nowadays.

She was exactly the type of girl that Jade would quickly seduce and turn into just another drug mule. That had been Jade's intention when she brought her into her makeshift home. Her real house, however, was on the 'right side' of Los Angeles. It was the definition of a dream house in every sense of the term. Her neighbors thought she was on vacation every time that she left to come to this dump of a house and take care of business. To the public, Jade West was a very respectable young woman with a neat lawn, white picket fence, and expensive car. Her neighbors loved her, especially after she had gotten out of her Goth phase and 'conformed' – yeah _right_ – to their ways. Those ways consisted of being worried over trivial matters and secretly hating any woman that even _looked_ more successful than you. It was all such a frivolous way of life that Jade realized that she needed something else. Something more that she could be great at and be recognized for her skill, something that wasn't fucking _tennis_ for God's sake.

Oh, how she'd had it with her Barbie and Ken counterparts who thought that looking as if they had stepped from out of a Ralph Lauren, Tommy Hilfiger, or American Apparel magazine ad was a full time job. So when her father's assistant's son let it slip that he dealt in the gray area of the black and white world, she jumped at the opportunity. Within a year she was The Don of this international drug cartel. Yet, lately something had been missing. At night, alone in her bed, she wasn't The Don, she was just Jade West. Her heart was empty and there was not one person she knew on the earth that qualified to fill that void. Lovers came and went, most of them only caring about her status or the money that she raked in from her 'business'.

But Tori Vega was just so obviously _different_ from the rest. There was a light in that woman, a sparkle in her eyes, and she radiated positivity. Jade made love to that woman last night, never mind how many times –seven, but who's counting?- . Everyone else was a mere fuck, easy and disposable. Yet, that previous night was filled with intense emotions that didn't even make sense to feel with a stranger. Now, as she sat there and watched in utter amusement as the half-Latina found little ways to entertain her intoxicated mind, Jade found herself catching feelings for her. Maybe it was the way that her eyes lit up whenever she found something new that captured her shortened attention, or that mega-watt smile, or maybe even her body that was admittedly talented in bed. Jade wasn't sure where this _thing_ between them was going, but she wouldn't mind exploring it. Tori was suddenly on top of her, gently pressing their lips together with a tranquility that had to have been from the drug.

"So beautiful…" The brunette murmured against Jade's lips as her tan fingers ran up Jade's naked body. The blue eyed woman shivered under the intense gaze of Tori's brown eyes. A genuine smile pulled at Jade's lips and at the sight of it, Tori's eyes lit up and she mirrored the action with a smile of her own.

Yeah, Jade would definitely make sure to keep her around. The intense love-making they had throughout the rest of the morning only confirmed it.

* * *

After Tori had come down from her mind-blowing high and many orgasms, she had found her phone discarded across the room in her purse and nearly panicked at the time. It was six in the afternoon and she knew for a fact that there were people who would be worried about her. Her best friend and roommate hadn't gone with her to the party, in favor of studying. The little redheaded woman had chosen to go to grad school for her Master's degree. Tori herself had half-heartedly vowed to return at some point, yet she was just enjoying her freedom for the time being. After trading phone numbers with the pale beauty she had spent the entire day with, they parted ways albeit reluctantly when Jade dropped her off at home. The brunette had walked into her apartment in the same dress from the night before, catching her roommate's amused brown eyed gaze as she entered.

"Oh, the walk of shame. Not a path that you've walked often." Cat Valentine, the petite, brown eyed, redhead teased. She shifted from her position of lying on the couch, grabbing the remote and muting the Audrey Hepburn film she had been watching. Tori shook her head at her roommate's grinning face, all deep dimples and white teeth.

"Shut up." Tori laughed as she made her way straight to the bathroom to take a shower and then to her bedroom to get dressed. When she returned, smelling of cinnamon body wash and vanilla shampoo, she plopped down onto the couch with her best friend.

"Last night had to have been a dream. This morning, too. It was…" Tori trailed off as she ran over every moment that her and Jade had spent together over the past twenty four hours.

"Who's the new guy?" The redhead asked immediately, her eyes lighting up at the prospect of Tori having finally found someone that she was _really_ interested in.

"Or girl?" Cat added at the last moment after remembering that Tori had recently began showing interest in women right around the time they had graduated from their high school. Hell, she didn't care what the person's gender was to be honest, she just wanted her best friend to be happy.

"Her name is Jade… Jade West." Tori's expression melted into one of longing and adoration. She looked like she was in love with the woman, which didn't make sense to Cat, especially if they had only met the night before.

"She can't be real, Cat. She's literally perfect." Tori continued to look as if her heart had grown ten times in size, yet all of that space was filled by this Jade woman.

"Where'd you meet her?" Cat asked curiously, her suspicious gaze going unnoticed by Tori. The half-Latina shifted on the cream colored leather couch and pulled her feet up off of the coffee colored carpet. The ceiling fan above them _whooshed_ in the sudden silence. Tori debated over telling Cat about her near-death experience. Would it endear Jade to her best friend knowing that she saved her life, or would it make the entire experience irrelevant to Cat? What if she wasn't able to see Jade in the light that Tori did because she had bet her in a bad neighborhood? The brunette decided against relaying that part of her night to her close friend.

"We met at the party." Tori nodded as Cat seemed to accept the answer, crimson ponytail bouncing as she nodded her head with a smile.

"That's so cute! Is she good in bed?" The redhead's voice dropped to a low whisper as she asked the question. Tori's smile lit up her entire face even as a blush crawled up her cheeks.

"I came _seven times_ last night…and five this morning." Tori admitted, laughing off her heated cheeks. Cat's eyes widened dramatically and she leaned forward as if that would better help her take in that information.

"Oh my gosh… that's twelve times! In the past twenty four hours!" Cat processed that bit for a moment and then looked at Tori with an intrigued glint in her brown eyes.

"Your stamina must be insane." The gentle-voiced woman nudged Tori's arm with the wiggling of her eyebrows. The half-Latina laughed and shoved the smaller woman playfully.

"_That's_ none of your business!" Tori declared through her giggles.

"Like hell it's not-" Cat began, the grin on her face doubling in size when Tori's phone began to ring. Wide brown eyes turned on the half-Latina and the redhead began bouncing up and down on the couch like a hyperactive child.

"Is that her? Is it, Tor?" The asked excitedly, reaching for the phone, though Tori snatched it out of reach before she could.

The brunette tapped the answer button and pressed the phone to her burning ear.

"Hello?" She asked, slightly breathless from laughing so much. Behind her, Cat was still shouting her name, purposely being annoying just because that was what best friends did.

"_You cheating on me, Vega?"_ Jade asked with only amusement in her tone from hearing the hyperactive redhead in the background. Tori giggled and stood up before running to her room and locking the door when Cat had gotten up to chase her. Once she was safe, she sat down on her lavender bed sheets and smiled at the voice on the other end of the line.

"I think that to cheat on you, we would have to be together first." Tori murmured, blushing at how forward she felt she was being. An amused chuckle floated from the other line and Tori could imagine Jade's signature smirk already.  
"_Fair enough. Listen, come be my date to this party tomorrow night."_ Jade slyly demanded rather than asked, forming it in a way that would make Tori be sure to say yes.

"You just can't wait to see me, is that what this is?" Tori teasingly jabbed at the other woman with a grin on her face. There was no one else on earth who made her smile as much as Jade did. She pushed the thought of how absurd it was out of her mind immediately. She had just met the woman, so what did it mean that she could already feel herself becoming more and more captivated by the second?

"_Don't get too cocky, Vega. My other date had an accident. Can't make it_." Jade lied smoothly from the other end of the phone call. Tori's eyebrows drew together, concern coating her features.

"Is he okay?" She asked immediately while Jade rolled her eyes from the end of the line.

"_Of course you wonder about his well being rather than the fact that you're a second choice._" Jade sighed in amusement, laughter coating her voice.

"Wait, Jade, that's not nice… Why would you tell me that?" Tori asked, her concerned face morphing to one of indignity as her long fingers picked at the bottom of her pajama shorts. She could almost picture Jade laughing at her expense, blue eyes alight with mirth. The more she thought on it, the more she could hear Jade's husky laugh in her ear, recorded into her memory from the night before.

"_I was joking, Sunshine. Chill out. So, is that a yes?" _The pale woman inquired from the other end of the line, a smile in her voice. Tori's heart thudded heavily in her chest at the realization that she would be seeing Jade again tomorrow. Without a second thought, she was nodding excitedly.

"Y-Yeah! No, yeah. I'll be there." Tori eagerly responded and then blushed furiously at how desperate she must sound. There was a slight shift in breathing on the other end of the line and Tori could tell that Jade had either just lied down or sat down wherever she was.

"_I said _date_, Tori. We'll get something to eat before we go. I'll pick you up at seven. Dress up."_ Jade commanded rather than asked right before the line went dead. Tori pulled the device away from her ear with a raised eyebrow and an amused glint in her eyes. A smile was permanently tugging at the corners of her lips as she stood in a daze and walked over to the door. As soon as she unlocked it, Cat barged in with a grin on her face as she bounced on the balls of her feet.

"Where are you going?" The redhead asked, eyes alight with excitement for her best friend. Tori continued to smile and looked down at her roommate.

"She wants me to be her date to some party tomorrow night. She's picking me up at seven." The redhead's deep brown eyes were wide with joy and Tori couldn't help but to be extremely grateful that her close friend's pure mind hadn't been lost over the years.

"What are you gonna wear? Oh my gosh, this is so adorable, Tor!" Cat gushed as she made her way over to the half-Latina's closet, throwing the doors open with enthusiasm and pushing hangers back and forth, looking for an acceptable outfit.

"Jade said to dress up, so nothing casual." Tori added, content to let Cat have her fun and pick out her entire outfit. If Cat was great at anything, it was definitely fashion. The tanned woman sat on the edge of her bed and pulled out her phone, going to her contacts and hovering over Jade's name. With a sudden surge of confidence, she tapped the text messaging icon and typed out a simple: **Goodnight xx**

Half an hour later, after Cat had laid out her outfit on the small, white leather love seat on the other side of her room and retired to bed, Tori's phone buzzed softly. The half-Latina opened her bleary eyes, having been on the very edge of sleep.

Her hand fumbled for her cell phone before unlocking it and looking at the time. It was one in the morning and Tori wasn't at all surprised that the pale woman was up this late.

The message read: **Sweet dreams, Sunshine. **

Tori's face immediately lit up with a megawatt smile as she turned her screen off and placed her phone back down on the nightstand. She turned over in her bed and closed her eyes, later dreaming of azure eyes and pale skin.

It was six-fifty when Tori began pacing back and forth across the living room, her mind alight with worry and nerves. She was dressed in a deep blue dress with wide triangular cutouts on either side of her torso and the front of her shoulders. There was lace in the front from the neckline down to right above her breasts. Diamond stud earrings occupied her ears and matched the diamond choker around her neck, both of which belonged to Cat. Black pumps made Tori's legs look like they went on for days. Cat had informed her that 'Dress up' meant along the lines of Hollywood chic. Tori wasn't keen on the fashion lingo quite yet, but she had taken Cat's word for it. Two minuets later, Cat had stepped in front of her, petite hands resting firmly on her shoulders.

"Tori, she likes you. You like her. _Calm down_." The redhead pressed with a frustratingly adorable stern look on her face. Tori released a breath that she hadn't known she was holding through her nose and looked Cat in the eyes. Eventually, she nodded and allowed a small smile to tug her lips upward.

"Yeah. No, you're right. I'll be fine." The half-Latina said, more to herself than to her best friend. As soon as the petite redhead removed her hands from Tori's shoulders, the doorbell rang, sending a jolt through the tanned woman.

"Oh my god, she's here." Tori's eyes had gone wide and Cat took her by the shoulders and shook her just once for good measure before she let go and ran over to buzz the woman in. A few moments later, they heard a pair of heels ascend the stairs and the smaller girl flitted to the door with a giant grin on her face.

"Hey, hi!" Cat greeted Jade happily, her big brown eyes taking in the pale woman's appearance. From the bottom up, Cat noticed black pumps, a tight black dress with a plunging dip in the back, and a gold cuff bracelet. The dress only had a three-fourths sleeve, so the redhead could see the nautical star tattoo on the inside of the taller woman's arm. Onyx hair cascaded down her shoulders in wide curls and of course, none of it held a candle to the beauty that was Jade West. A smirk pulled at Jade's lips as the redhead looked her over.

"Yeah, hey. Where's Tori?" Jade asked, attempting to look behind Cat, yet still not seeing the half-Latina.

"She's in the back, follow me!" Cat grinned and as soon as Jade was inside, she closed the door and led the pale woman toward the living room.

"Jade!" Tori piped up and a nervous smile formed on her face. The pale woman stopped short and took in her date, her mind spinning and then eventually drawing a blank when she realized just how gorgeous this woman was. Of course, she didn't allow that to show. She had to play it cool. After all, her reputation was at stake.

"Hey, Vega." Jade greeted as she placed a kiss on the half-Latina's forehead.

"Who's your friend?" The taller woman asked, glancing at Cat with a raised, pierced eyebrow.

"Jade, this is my best friend, Cat. Cat, this is Jade." Tori introduced the two with a growing smile. The redhead engulfed Jade in a hug, causing the pale woman to stiffen in her arms. Tori noticed her date's discomfort and gently pried Cat's arms from around the raven haired woman. Blue eyes locked on the floor as she took an uncomfortable step back from the two.

"Nice to meet you." Jade muttered with her eyebrows slightly raised.

"Sorry! I've just heard so much about you." Cat grinned mischievously and Jade chuckled. Tori's face heated from her neck to her cheeks and she could tell that her blush was embarrassingly obvious. The tallest woman looked down into Tori's brown eyes and quirked an eyebrow.

"How much have you talked about me in a day, Vega?"

Tori ran her hand through her now-wavy hair and grabbed Jade's arm to drag her out of the apartment before Cat could embarrass her even more. As they exited the threshold, Cat giggled and waved them off.

"Have fun!"

* * *

Tori and Jade entered the Italian restaurant at around seven-forty-five, walking through the front of the restaurant filled with fish tanks built into the wall and inhabited by exotic fish. The floors were tiled intricately with white and tan, eventually weaving into the center of the floor to twist into the emblem of the establishment. There was an impossibly long line of people waiting for a table to be available, but Jade led Tori to the front and gave her last name to the man in the restaurant's uniform. His dark eyes landed on her and Tori's intertwined hands with a slight furrow of his brow.

"Unless you've made a reservation several weeks prior, you're going to have to get a buzzer and wait behind everyone else." He droned on, tilting his head to the side. Jade's eyes narrowed at his gelled hair, combed upward in stylish spikes and his angular face. He was attractive enough to work there, of course.

"Yeah, sure. Where's your manager?" Jade asked, her voice controlled and demanding. The young man straightened up slightly and glared at her for having the audacity to call on a higher authority than himself. With a slight sneer, he pressed a button on a small pager attached to his waist. Several moments later, a graying middle-aged man exited. His olive skin and bright, youthful eyes kept him good-looking and probably would continue to do so well into his old age.

"Miss West! Looking beautiful as always, how have you been?" He greeted her with a firm hug and she softly patted his back before pulling away and holding up the hand that was interlocked with Tori's. The half-Latina stood there, dumbfounded about the entire situation.

"I was just fine until your little _intern _here told me to get to the back of the line and wait for an available table." The pale woman sneered at the now pale young man.

"Wait, _you're_-" He stuttered dumbly and she shot a sarcastic smile in his direction. Mac Daniels, nicknamed from Daniel McGruber, turned his signature glare onto the younger man.

"Travis, _in my office_. You'll be lucky if you even get to sweep the floor in the kitchen after this." Mac pointed to the official looking door from which he emerged a few moments prior and Travis slunk toward it with a devastated look on his face.

"Right this way, Miss West and company." Mr. Daniels flipped his scowl into a megawatt smile in half a second as he led them toward the V.I.P area which Tori assumed was reserved for either celebrities or people that had money and a _lot_ of it. In this case, it was reserved for the owner of the restaurant and the daughter of the man running Comme Des Elite Records. The record label was then shortened to LiTE Records because of its translation: Like the Elite. The point was that Jade was loaded along with the rest of her family. Tori's hands began to dampen around Jade's fingers as she realized that there was so much more to Jade than what the taller woman had let on. As soon as they were left alone, sitting at a table lit by candle light and a fireplace in the corner, Tori's eyes locked on the blue ones across from her.

"So what was all of that about?" The half-Latina inquired, biting her lip gently. Her heeled shoes bounced nervously against the burgundy rug, spread over the mahogany floors. Jade's elbows rested on the table as she leaned her chin against her fist. Her shoulders shrugged slightly and a smile threatened to turn her lips upward.

"I, um… I kind of own this place." Jade murmured, not needing to speak any louder in the otherwise silent room, not counting the roar of the fire across the floor.

"You-you own the _biggest_ Italian restaurant in Los Angeles?" Tori muttered in disbelief, though it would perfectly explain the reaction the manager had to her presence.

"But wait, how does someone work here and not recognize the person who owns it?"

Jade's eyes widened slightly as she sat up straighter in her cushioned chair.

"_Right_? People are so fucking idiotic sometimes." The blue eyed woman complained with a frown.

Tori giggled a little and looked down at her plate, white porcelain with intricate black designs around the edges. Her napkin was laid out for her with several different types of the same utensils, all used for different dishes. One thing that she did notice, however, was the lack of a menu. Of course, she'd never been there before, so she thought she would sound too much like an idiot if she asked what the deal was. When her brown eyes lifted back up to look at Jade, she noticed that Jade was already watching her with a thoughtful gaze. The pale woman's features looked even more striking in the bare candle light. Her eyes seemed darker and the atmosphere around them was so much more intimate than it would have been outside of the room with the 'normal customers'.

"So, Tori. Tell me about yourself." Jade asked, admittedly, the most cliché thing to inquire about someone on a date. Except, coming from Jade, it seemed like such a loaded question with the way her intense eyes traced over the half-Latina's face. Tori felt a blush threatening to spread to her face at the way Jade was watching her, but she composed herself enough to answer her date anyway.

"Oh, um… Well, I have an older sister named Trina, my mom and dad split when I was a junior in high school, my roommate is my best friend and we've known each other since sixth grade, I kinda wanted to be a singer a while ago but then life got in the way…" Tori trailed off as Jade's gaze never wavered. This woman was making her nervous, but in the best way possible.

"A singer, huh? You any good?" Jade asked gently, mentally patting herself on the back for not telling Tori that along with owning the restaurant, she was also the daughter of the man who owns the largest record label in America. Maybe if their relationship went somewhere, she might surprise her one day with a trip down to the label. But, she was getting ahead of herself. She needed to get through tonight first. Tori laughed nervously and fidgeted with her fingers on the table.

"I dunno… my friends say so, but they're my friends so I think they were just trying not to hurt my feelings." Tori laughed good-naturedly.

"No, I'm serious. Sing me something… you know, if you don't mind." Jade added on the last bit to avoid making it seem like she was forcing her to share her talent. The last thing she wanted to do was make Tori uncomfortable. Tori took a deep breath and looked at Jade curiously, gauging if she was serious about her request or not.

"_She asked me, 'Son, when I grow old, will you buy me a house of gold? And when your father turns to stone, will you take care of me?'"_

Jade's eyebrows rose slightly as she watched Tori. The half-Latina was very obviously nervous and her start was a little shaky, but then she seemed to find her voice. Brown eyes were focused on a stone statue on the wall behind Jade as to not lose her nerve.

"_I will make you queen of everything you see. I'll put you on the map, I'll cure you of disease."_ Tori's eyes fluttered slightly as she sang that line and her gaze met Jade's as she sang the next line.

"_Let's say we up and left this town, and turned our future upside down. We'll make pretend that you and me, lived ever after happily."_

Jade bit her lip as she looked Tori over, as if seeing her in a new light while the shorter girl finished the end of the song.

"_She asked me, 'Son, when I grown old, will you buy me a house of gold? And when your father turns to stone, will you take care of me?'"_

Tori's voice trailed off in the otherwise silent room and the brunette shyly looked down at her napkin spread out beneath her handful of utensils. Her mind reeled with embarrassment and while she mentally thought of everything that she could have possibly screwed up in just a few short lines, Jade felt her heart swelling in her chest for this girl that she barely even knew.

"Hey." Jade murmured, reaching across the table and taking Tori's hands in her own. The half-Latina glanced up with an unsure gleam in her eyes and Jade smiled a little.

"That was beautiful."

Tori's breath exited from between her lips, one that she had unknowingly been holding as she waited for Jade's reaction. Her hands maneuvered themselves until they were interlocked with Jade's fingers and she looked down at their intertwined hands with a huge grin.

"Aw, _you_!" Tori giggled jokingly and caused Jade to roll her eyes with a husky chuckle that made Tori's cheeks warm.

"Listen, Vega, I need to tell y-" Jade began with the beginnings of a serious expression on her pale features, but a male waiter who seemed to be in his sixties at the youngest, entered with a notebook pad and a blue ballpoint pen.

"What would you like for tonight, young-ladies?" He asked with a heavy Italian accent. His uniform consisted of a deep blue-black suit and a maroon tie with gold cufflinks and a pin of the restaurant's emblem on the front of his suit. Jade shut her mouth and quickly turned her lips up into a smile.

"What would you like for dinner, Vega?" Jade asked with a grin that lit up her whole face. Tori could only imagine what a genuine, full-on smile would look like on the raven haired woman's face. She could bet it would be a breathtaking sight for sure.

"Um…" Tori muttered. She hadn't been thinking about what she wanted for dinner! She was too distracted by Jade's face… and her voice, and conversation, and laugh, and smile. Jesus Christ, could she be anymore of a pining sap? It was getting pathetic. The lack of menus just confused her even more, so she cleared her throat and sent an awkward smile to the waiter.

"I'll have whatever she's having." The half-Latina murmured, nodding over in the direction of her date.

Jade quirked an amused eyebrow, as if she had begun to sense her inner turmoil and mentally laughed about it.

"I'll take the shrimp fettuccini alfredo, garlic sticks, and a side of butter and lemon." The pale woman ordered smoothly, never moving her eyes from Tori's. The entire act in itself was enough to make the tanned woman squirm in her seat, but it was just something about the way that Jade's voice mixed with her intense gaze that made heat spread to places Tori couldn't be bothered to think about right then. The older man nodded a quick confirmation that he had their orders and then turned on his heel and walked out with a smooth elegance that could only be acquired through practice. Tori's eyes landed on Jade once more and the pale woman sent a teasing smirk in her direction.

"What's the matter, Vega? You look a little confused."

Tori scrunched her face up in a pout that Jade was shocked to find almost adorable. She began to figure that the brunette was just endearing no matter where she was or who she was with. Who knew she'd date someone as charismatic as herself?

"No, just, there weren't any menu's so I-" The brown eyed woman cut herself off and shook her head with a near-silent sigh.

"Never mind… hey, what were you saying earlier? Before the man came to take our orders?"

"Oh, it was nothing." Jade smiled a little, lifting her finger to swipe it through the flickering candle flame.

"Tell me." Tori insisted with a broad grin tugging the corners of her mouth upward. The pale woman quirked a perfectly trimmed eyebrow in amusement.

"Leave it alone, Vega." Jade began to smile a little wider at the almost begging expression on the shorter girl's face. The half-Latina jutted her lower lip out ever so slightly and Jade's defenses immediately fell to her feet.

"Oh, god… I wanted to wait until after we eat, so if you decide to ditch me, you'd at least get a good meal out of it." Jade began with a joking tone, yet her eyes were completely serious. The brunette felt her heart thud harshly in her ribcage at the thought that whatever her date was about to tell her would potentially cause her to completely turn Jade away. The look on Tori's face was enough to cause even Jade to pause with her explanations, simply out of hesitancy. She flashed a crooked smile that never failed to charm and began.

"Remember… remember when I told you that I run and international drug cartel? When you asked me what I was doing?" The taller woman asked. Tori nodded slowly, hoping that her explanation wasn't going where she thought it was about to go. Her parents had split because of her dad's five year-long cocaine addiction. Her stomach clenched and all of the sudden, she was feeling a bit queasy.

"Yeah, I remember." Tori murmured. Jade's lips pressed together as she mentally prepared herself to tell Tori the truth. If she was being honest with herself, what she was about to do was terribly naïve, foolish, reckless, and dangerous. Not to mention a million other things that could describe her infatuation-induced stupidity. Jade had no way of knowing if the half-Latina could be trusted, and if she could, then would she stick around to even listen to the full story? She was playing with an uncontained fire but even through the smoke and flames, she could practically taste the paradise waiting on the other side.

"Well, that wasn't a joke. Before you say anything or storm off, I just want you to know that if you decide to stay with me, I'll never let anything happen to you." The pale woman added hastily. The half-Latina's expression was frozen for several seconds before she swallowed heavily and shifted her gaze down toward her silverware. Her slightly thin lips pursed in a moment where she seemed to be thinking before she caught Jade's gaze once again.

"Just weed, right?" Tori murmured quietly. Jade's pale fingers played with the hilt of her steak knife for several short moments before she answered.

"No." She finally responded just as quiet as Tori had been only seconds before. Blue eyes darted up to meet uncertain brown ones and Tori exhaled heavily.

"What kind?" Tori asked with a more level voice. The pale woman bit the inside of her cheek as she sighed through her nose.

"It doesn't matter what-" Jade began, but Tori cut her off with a very forceful, "What _kind_, Jade?"

"Me telling you what kind isn't going to make me give up my trade, Tori. You can either trust that I'm keeping that from you as a precaution for _both _of us or you can get up right now and never look back." The blue eyed woman said in a calm, serious tone. Tori kept her eyes locked with Jade for nearly two minuets before she ground her teeth together and looked away.

"Fine."

"Good."

"How long 'til the food gets here?"

"A couple more minuets." Jade muttered, pretending to read the back of an advertisement placed on a fold out flyer in the condiment holder. The next few minuets went on in tense silence but as soon as the food arrived and they began to open up a bit, the pair easily picked up with their banter and laughed as if Jade hadn't just told her that she ran a drug cartel.

After dinner, the couple made their way further into Hollywood for the party Jade had originally told her about. The night air was cool enough to raise goosebumps along her arms and Jade assured her that they would not be outside for more than a minuet. When they pulled up to the house, Tori's eyes widened dramatically. The cobblestone path winded up to the marble stairs in a serpentine design. Past the stairs were two pillars on either side of the double mahogany door, which had glass stained windows designed with a detailed, white floral pattern.

The house in itself did not even look especially large but as soon as they stepped inside and got past the three door-guards, Tori took in the high ceilings and spacious rooms. Jade's hand was placed firmly on her lower back as she led the half-Latina through several winding hallways. The music got louder and louder the more that they walked and soon, the beat was pulsing through her body and engulfing her like a wave. The unmistakable smell of weed permeated the house and the room that they stepped into had a hazy air about it that could only be from the people lighting up all around them. Tori's bright brown eyes darted over to meet Jade's sultry gaze.

"What's the matter, Vega? Can't handle a little smoke?" The pale woman slid her arms around Tori's waist as she teased her. The half-Latina blinked a few times to allow her brain to catch up with her mouth before she responded.

"If I can handle you then I don't see why not." The tan woman replied with an attempt to sound just as confident as Jade. A studded eyebrow rose in appreciation before she leaned forward and captured Tori's lips for a moment. When she pulled back, Tori was left in a mild daze.

"Lets find out how much trouble we can get into in one night." Jade murmured in her ear, warm breath caressing the side of her face as she did. Half an hour later found them in a large bedroom with three other people around their age. The room was filled with smoke, so much of it that it was getting hard to see anything other than the string of lights adorning the wall furthest from them. Whatever was in Tori's system made the continuous pulse of the music and the twinkling lights above her seem absolutely captivating. Meanwhile, Jade was captivated by something different. Dianna, a tall, blonde aussie with bright blue eyes and wavy hair that reached her lower back, was occupied with a heavy make out session with Liam, a brunet boy that looked like he came straight out of an Abercrombie and Fitch ad.

Both of them had known Jade since she was a freshman in high school. They had stayed close enough that Jade had offered them jobs as drug-mules when she became the head of their business. Of course by now they had earned themselves spots high up enough that they no longer had to traffic. The pale woman was enraptured by the way that their lips moved so languidly against each other. Gradually, she felt herself become more and more captivated until she felt a warm hand inch its way up her stomach. Jade turned her head slightly to the left and was met with the damp, parted lips of Tori Vega. Their tongues immediately began to dance within the confines of their mouths.

Jade turned on her side, her hip bone bumping the wooden floor beneath them, and climbed on top of the thin half-Latina. Tori's hips rose off of the ground when Jade straddled her and she arched her body off of the floor in an intense need for more friction between the two of them. Jade bit Tori's bottom lip and suckled it, drawing a pleading whimper from the shorter woman. Jade groaned in pleasure when Tori's thigh raised upward to brush against her throbbing center. Both of their dresses had flipped upward at that point, just enough so that their legs were no longer constricted. With the drugs pulsating throughout their bodies and the hazy, primal feeling that it induced, neither couple questioned it when they found themselves having rough, animalistic sex not even ten feet from each other.

When Jade awoke at some ungodly hour of the morning, she was laying beneath Tori on the king sized bed against the center of the wall in the same bedroom as before. Dianna and Liam were intertwined at the foot of the bed, all four of them naked. Blue eyes blearily scanned the room and immediately shut at the bright sunlight streaming through the floor-to-ceiling windows. The burgundy drapes blocked a lot of the light, but the amount that got in was enough to give Jade a headache. The pale woman's eyes traveled down to the half-Latina's head resting soundly on her breasts. Tori slept with her lips parted slightly, child-like and near-silent snores exiting her mouth.

Her brown hair was in complete disarray around her head and tickled Jade's nose when she turned her head away from the light in the windows. At the small movement, Tori's body shifted on top of her and Jade's body immediately reacted to the tiny amount of friction. A soft groan left her lips when Tori's leg landed between hers and her thigh brushed against her center. Coffee brown eyes fluttered open and a moment later, Tori pushed herself up to see Jade's face. Bright blue eyes met her own and Tori leaned down to capture Jade's pink lips in a searing kiss that led to pale hands wandering down Tori's slender back and cupping the half-Latina's firm, round ass. Tori moved her legs to straddle the pale woman's hips and their lips continued to mesh together perfectly, tongues clashing.

Jade groaned when she felt Tori's wetness drip onto her stomach. The tan woman pulled away slightly and placed a sweet kiss on Jade's cheek.

"I really need to get home." Tori breathed against Jade's ear, pale arms moving upward to place her hands on Tori's cheeks.

"Unfortunately enough, so do I. I have a dinner to go to this evening and it's going to take a while to make myself presentable." Jade smirked slightly, brushing her lips against Tori's lightly.

"I had a great time with you, Tori." The blue eyed woman whispered against the warm lips pressed to hers. Tori smiled into their mini-kiss and whispered back, "I really like you, Jade."

Jade pulled back only slightly in order to look Tori more fully in the eyes. "It's horrifying, isn't it?" The pale woman smirked. She wasn't joking.

* * *

After Jade dropped her off at home, Tori sat on her bed and absently moved her foot to the music coming through her speakers. Cat had classes until three in the afternoon and that wasn't for another two hours. Flashbacks of her night with Jade played behind her eyelids as she lay down on her bed. The feeling of Jade's fingers sliding over her body and of her lips caressing every inch of her skin never left. A shiver jolted down her spine just thinking about it. Soon enough, she found herself dozing off and when she woke up, it was because Cat came in and turned the music off.

"Tori! You're up! Tell me _everything_!" the petite redhead shouted in excitement as she threw her shoulder bag on the floor by the door and bounded over to the bed. Tori sat up groggily and gave a sleepy laugh.

"Hey Cat, my day was fine, how was yours?" The half-Latina asked sarcastically, her smile lighting up her face. The redhead giggled and sat on the edge of the bed.

"It'll be great when you tell me how your date went. But I'm assuming it was better than great considering you didn't come home 'til this morning." Cat grinned mischievously and nudged Tori's arm with her elbow. The brown eyed Latina laughed and blushed wildly, her body heating up from her chest to her cheeks.

"_Cat_!"

"What? Don't be such a prude; you're the one getting laid _constantly_." Cat giggled with a big grin tugging on her red painted lips.

"You don't have to be so…so _enthusiastic_ about it." Tori blushed. The smaller woman shrugged and turned completely to look at her best friend.

"You really like her?" She asked, raising her eyebrow with an unusual look of seriousness. The air conditioner in the far window kicked in on its automatic timer and filled the silence for several seconds while Tori met Cat's curious gaze.

"You're gonna kill me, Cat, but I think I'm falling for her." The half-Latina admitted with her gaze casted downward. The college student's eyebrows arched up in surprise and after a minuet, the shocked woman nodded slowly.

"I, um… Tori-" Cat stopped herself and cleared her throat softly. She stood up and continuously ran her fingers down the ends of her red ponytail, a habit that she tended to do when she was stressed or anxious. Tori noticed that and attempted to grab Cat's wrist before she could leave but the redhead moved out of the way too quickly and walked out to the living room. Tori stood abruptly to follow her closest friend.

"Cat? Seriously, what's so bad about this? She's amazing!"

The petite woman whirled on Tori with a blazing look in her chocolate colored eyes.

"What's so _bad about this_? Tori, you haven't even known her a week and you're contemplating loving her! You _know_ how quickly and easily you get attached and you _always_ get hurt and I _always _have to pick up the pieces! You can't keep doing this to yourself, Tori! _Damn it_!" The redhead yelled angrily and before Tori could blink, the shorter woman had thrown a throw pillow from the couch against the front door.

_It's horrifying, isn't it?_

The half-Latina gritted her teeth in silence and turned on her heel to march back into her room and lock the door. When she texted Jade that she missed her, she shouldn't have been upset that she didn't get a reply until three that morning, but she was and she had no idea what to do about it. Jade's life was still a mystery. For all that Tori would have willingly revealed, she knew nothing about Jade that went further than her outward feelings and appearance. Sure, she knew that she ran a drug cartel, but she didn't even know the woman's favorite color. Her favorite book either, for that matter. The important things that mattered or counted when it came down to it came as a blank in Tori's mind. The little things always counted.

Maybe Cat was right? How could she love someone that didn't even know? When she really thought about it, the entire concept was absurd, but then she remembered the way that Jade's hands caressed her as if she were a masterpiece to be handled with utmost care when they first met. Or even the primal way that Jade made love to her at the party that they had come from and the way that Jade just _looked_ at her.

_Oh my God, it should not be this hard…_ Tori thought as she lay with her head pressed down onto her memory-foam pillow. She didn't realize that several tears had slid down her cheek until she heard the soft _tap_ of them hitting the pillow case. Love wasn't a word to be thrown about lightly and of course she knew that, she really did, but it was so hard to _not_ love Jade. Someone that looked at her like she was the only person in the room or kissed her like it was the last time every time that their lips touched could not just be ignored. Whether she or Cat liked it or not, Tori Vega was falling hard for Jade West and there was not a damn thing she could do about it.

* * *

Tori groaned when she woke later that morning. A quick glance at her alarm clock showed that it was ten on the dot. Sunlight streamed through the windows and the air conditioner still pushed cool air throughout her room with a faint hum. From the living room, hushed sounds of old cartoons carried over to Tori's bedroom. Immediately, the brown eyed Latina flashbacked to her small argument with Cat the night before. A yawn tore through her lips as she sat up and pushed her long fingers through tousled, brunette hair.

Suddenly, a familiar chuckle was heard over the decade old cartoons playing on the television in the living room. Tori's eyes widened in shock and a second later she scrambled from her bed and pushed her bedroom door open as silently as possible to peak around the corner and into the room. Her jaw dropped as soon as she noticed Jade sitting on the cream colored, leather couch with her legs crossed and eyes alight, no doubt charming the little redhead beside her.

The half-Latina's eyes traveled down what she could see of Jade's raven pin up curls and her outfit, a pale blue sundress that matched her eyes perfectly and white sandals wrapping up her ankles. Black, circle sunglasses sat atop her head and her white, leather purse sat on the floor beside her feet. She looked…different. Not in a bad way at all, but this Jade looked sweeter for some reason. Maybe it was the lighter make up she was wearing or just the pureness that surrounded her at that moment but then Tori realized that this was probably that Jade that every one else outside of her trade got to see: The all-American sweetheart. She slowly and silently stepped back until she was safely in her room before turning on her heel and heading toward her dresser to fix her hair.

After tugging the comb through her wild bed head and making herself look as presentable as she could in her underwear and an oversized T-shirt she had gotten from her dad years ago, she walked out of the door. When she stepped into the living room, Cat had been red in the face with laughter at something that Jade had said, brushing tears from her eyes as the half-Latina made her presence known.

"Hey, Vega." Jade greeted her with an alluring smirk pulling up one side of her red lips and her husky voice sending shivers down the half-Latina's spine. Big brown eyes turned upon her arrival and Jade's welcome. Cat's expression showed one of apology, the face that she made when she wanted to call a truce. Tori sent her a small, reassuring smile and walked over to the two of them.

"So, how come I wasn't invited to this little get-together?" Tori asked with a chuckle, moving to sit on the left of Jade, leaving the blue eyed woman in the middle.

"Well, darling, because you sleep like the dead." Jade imitated the voice of a 1940's actress. Cat elbowed the taller woman in the side and Jade flashed an endearing grin toward the petite woman.

"No, but really, we tried to wake you up and you kind of just swung at us…" Cat said as she attempted to hold back her giggles. Tori looked embarrassed and scratched behind her neck in a nervous gesture.

"Yeah… that kinda just happens?" The half-Latina murmured quietly. Jade leaned over and placed a soft kiss against her cheekbone and leaned back into the couch.

"No worries. Anyway, I was having a great time getting to know your friend. Cat is lovely company." Jade smiled that mega watt, girl next door, American sweetheart smile again and Tori realized that this Jade was almost a complete opposite from her Jade. Her Jade was sharp-tongued, violent, quick tempered, and rough edged. This new Jade was sweet, charming, breathtaking, dazzling, anything that the public would want to see.

"I was just telling her stories of my father's record label, the day that Kesha came in, took one look at me, and said: 'Your eyes are like these two blind kittens I saw in the alley today… they're like, so inspirational. You're an animal at heart.'" Jade imitated her voice perfectly, making Tori wonder how on earth that woman had gotten so good at imitations. But then Tori's mind caught up with that Jade had said before that and she quickly held up a hand to stop her.

"Wait, your _dad _owns a record label?" The half-Latina squeaked in surprise. Jade nodded calmly as if she should have already known that information.

"Definitely, LiTE Records? It's pretty popular, Vega, keep up." The pale woman sent her a flirty wink and went back to some conversation with Cat as Tori attempted to process. So if Jade was the daughter of a man that was no doubt wealthy, why the hell would she be living in that shitty house in one of the worst neighborhoods in Los Angeles? Unless All-American Jade had a completely separate life, not just personalities. The tan woman shook her head and rubbed her forehead in exhaustion. Jade was giving her whiplash. Cat stood from her seat on the couch and only then did Tori realized that the redhead was fully dressed in a pastel blue pleather dress and white pumps. The half-Latina opened her mouth to remind Cat that she had class in half an hour but Jade beat her to it, standing herself and walking Cat to the door as the shorter girl waved goodbye to the both of them. Tori watched the door close in confusion and Jade turned to watch her with a raised eyebrow and an amused look crossing her features.

"You alright, Vega?" She asked with a teasing smirk pulling at her lips. Tori frowned and stepped over to the pale woman, pointing an accusing finger at her chest.

"What games are you playing, Jade?"

Jade laughed and raised an incredulous eyebrow at the fuming half-Latina.

"Games are for children. I'm saving your ass by the way. I'm not an idiot, I could tell by the look on your face when I dropped you off yesterday that you thought you'd be in trouble when you got back. I came by to show her that she has nothing to worry about, so you're welcome." Jade said matter-of-factly and sidestepped the shorter woman. Tori opened her mouth several times but no words came out as she turned on her heel to face Jade. The pale woman leaned in and captured her lips in a gentle kiss before pulling away so that only their foreheads touched.

"Do you trust me?" Jade asked as her eyes softened, locking with Tori's. The tanned woman could do nothing else but nod slowly as Jade walked her backward toward the couch before lowering the half-Latina onto the cream colored cushions. Jade crawled over the shorter woman's body, tenderly placing feather-light kisses on the expanse of Tori's neck and collar bone. A pale hand landed on Tori's knee, slowly moving up her thigh and caressing the half-Latina's hip. The large T-shirt separating them was pushed up and off of Tori's thin body and she was left in nothing but the light blue underwear that she had worn to bed. Jade's sunglasses slid out of her hair and onto the floor beside the couch but neither of them noticed as they were too immersed in each other.

Tori's hands found the zipper on the back of Jade's dress and pulled it down with an urgency that surprised her. The pale woman got up and stepped out of the article of clothing before assuming her previous position on top of Tori. Brown eyes traveled over the red lace bra and panty set that her lover had worn beneath the dress and she went breathless at the sight. Jade caressed the half-Latina's body with gentle touches until her face was level with Tori's blue underwear. The wetness growing there was already visible and Jade let out a pleased _hum_ in response. The taller woman cupped her center and leaned up once more to place a searing kiss against Tori's lips.

The tanned woman bucked into the caress and their lips parted with a wet _pop_. Jade found herself back in between Tori's thighs and she slipped the underwear down legs that went on for miles before tossing them to the side. She was met with Tori's bare core, wet, swollen, and pleading for entry. Jade teasingly swirled her finger around the brunette's throbbing clit before leaning forward and pressing her lips against her soaking entrance. The half-Latina moaned in pleasure, jerking her lips upward to gain more friction. Jade slid one finger inside of the tanned woman's hot walls that clamped down on her finger as soon as it entered. Jade moaned herself at how tight Tori was around her before she slowly moved her finger in and out of the other woman's heat.

"_God_, Jade!" Tori moaned, biting her lip to make up for a lack of anything to hold on to. Through the haze in her mind, Tori decided that Jade's hair was much too nice to mess up. Jade's tongue caressed her swollen clit and she inserted another finger into Tori's dripping core, pumping her long fingers in and out at a quicker pace than before. Soon enough, Tori's mind was unraveling into mush inside of her head and Jade had her undone. Bucking under the hand and tongue that was doing such wicked things to her body, Tori came hard and all over Jade's fingers. The pale woman removed the digits from their previous spot and lifted them to her lips, tongue cleaning the residual juices on her fingers seductively. Tori lie back on the couch, panting heavily with her chest moving up and down rapidly as she caught her breath. Seconds later, Jade's lips were on hers, drawing sensual moans from her parted lips. Tori knew there was no going back, no way to ignore the feelings that Jade invoked inside of her. That thought alone was enough to dim her mood just a little.

The pair sat on Tori's bed, the owner of the room recently showered and dressed in sweats and a tank top and Jade back in her All-American sweetheart dress. They both leaned back against the headboard and turned their faces to look at each other. Tori decided to be the first to break the silence as she looked down at her lap and twisted her fingers around each other out of nervousness. Bright blue eyes traveled down to the hands resting on Tori's lap and Jade picked up on her body language as easily as someone who had known her for years.

"So, what's with this new look you have going on?" The half-Latina attempted to laugh a little, but her voice was so genuinely confused that the sound got thrown off. Jade's eyes moved back to meet the coffee brown ones watching her and she flashed a small smile in her lover's direction.

"I told you that my dad owns LiTE Records earlier and I'm sure you've gathered that I'm pretty well off from what you've seen these past few days. The thing is, with my business, I'm not trying to be the daughter of the head of a record label. I want to be feared and respected for who I am and not who my dad wants me to be. Anything that I do with my trade is a completely separate life from what I show everyone else. I go from the slums to a house with a massive front gate and a cleaning lady, Tori. There's no way I could successfully mix those lives… until you came along. I can't tell if you belong in my 'other life' or if I want to take you to my father's dinners and celebrity parties with people that you'd probably faint if you saw… I can't tell what's going on with you and that's why I love it so much. I love a challenge." Jade trailed off, looking so deeply into Tori's eyes that the brunette felt compelled to confess something right then.

"I think I'm in love with you." The half-Latina blurted with an odd look in her eyes, one of expectance, anxiety, and distress. Jade's eyes widened and she sat up a little straighter as she continued to look Tori in the eye.

"I'm sorry you feel that way." The pale woman cleared her throat and glanced down at her lap. Tori quirked an eyebrow in a heartbreakingly sad, confused manner and looked at Jade.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean exactly what I said." Jade murmured before standing and grabbing her purse from the floor beside Tori's bed. Her sunglasses found their spot back on her face as she exited the room and the front door with nothing but a pre-occupied, "See you later, Vega."

* * *

Jade pulled into her long, winding driveway and parked on the side of the massive cobblestone house. There was a tall, lean man with skin as pale as Jade's mowing the near-perfect lawn. He glanced up from his yard-work and swiped his hand across his forehead to remove the accumulating sweat there. His bright blue eyes twinkled as he saw his sister pull into the driveway. Jade looked up from her keys after she locked the car doors and frowned at the sight of her younger brother.

"What did I tell you about this? We have people to do these things for us." She berated him with a slight crease between her eyebrows. Dyson's eyes twinkled as he cut off the lawn mower and leaned against the handle with all the gracefulness of a male-model. He flashed his perfect smile and looked down at his older sister.

"Looks like Dad's lessons of being self-reliant when we were younger flew right over your pretty little head. Maybe I happen to enjoy having something to do." He smirked, a look identical to his sister's, and turned the lawn mower back on.

"Glad you decided to grace us with your presence, though!" He shouted over the loud noise of the equipment and nodded toward the front door in a gesture telling her to go inside. She rolled her eyes and the sound of her heels clacking up the stone walkway was heard even over the lawn mower. Once inside, she made her way through the living room with high ceilings and a wide, spacious living area. She walked up the stairs to her bedroom and stripped down to nothing but her matching bra and underwear set before crawling beneath the covers and letting out a deep breath she had been holding since she left Tori's place.

The thought of the other woman loving her was terrifying, only because she knew for a fact that the beautiful half-Latina deserved so much more than what she could give her. Jade could feel that she would only serve to be a disappointment to the other woman, should she give into her desire of giving herself to the brunette. She could still see the look that Tori gave her after she had brushed off her declaration of love. There had been a look of staggering disbelief in her eyes when she asked her to explain what she meant by "_I'm sorry you feel that way."_ Jade knew she had been too harsh and if she was being honest with herself, she could feel that she had cut herself just as deep as she had cut Tori.

The worst part was that she hadn't even meant to hurt her lover. She was just cruel, Jade convinced herself. Telling herself that she didn't deserve love to begin with was _almost_ enough to stop the pain. However, as long as she could still feel the ghost of Tori's lips and fingers caressing her skin, she was unable to fully make herself believe it. Tori loved her and no matter how much she wished it wasn't so, she loved her just as much.

When Jade woke several hours later, it was only five o'clock. Her father could be heard laughing with Dyson downstairs so the pale woman flipped the covers back and slid out of her king sized bed. She sometimes regretted getting such a large mattress because without someone to keep her warm at night, she had far too much space for herself. Cold fingers tugged her dresser open and she pulled out a cozy, tight knit, blue sweater. She pulled it on as well as a pair of black leggings before padding down the stairs, her eyes glancing over the family portraits lining the walls. Her bright blue eyes paused on one in particular, a picture of her and Dyson standing by a mini inflatable pool with giant smiles on their faces and floaties on their arms and legs, Dyson's blue and her own pink. The picture itself was grainy due to how long ago it was taken, she may have been three, making Dyson only one year old.

A woman's leg was only seen in the corner of the picture, a pale leg with a crimson pump on the foot. That was as much of her mother as she ever remembered seeing. All the pictures of the woman were hidden or destroyed long ago by her father. According to him, she skipped out on them all when Jade was only four, her little brother had just turned two when she left. The only reason Jade remembered her leaving was because she could recall waking up to a note on her pillow that only said '_I'm sorry, baby girl' _and a package of her favorite candy, Skittles, taped to the back of the paper. With a deep breath, the pale woman broke her eyes away from the picture and finished making her way down the stairs.

When she entered the living room, she saw her father and brother playing Grand Theft Auto V on the Xbox, trading off every time the other died. Jade walked past the living room and went straight to the kitchen to her personal stash of goods. She exited with a pack of Skittles in her hand. When she re-entered the living room, she perched on the arm of the couch, watching the two men interact with each other or shouting for the other to do something that they were convinced would save the character's life. Dyson threw the controller down on the couch as he stood up suddenly. Jade's eyes moved to the flat screen in time to see that his character was completely shot down. Her lips quirked up in an amused smirk at her brother's tantrum.

"You told me to check around the corner of the guy's house and attack from there, but instead you make me walk right into an ambush! What kind of father are you?" The tall man lamented playfully. James West, slightly gray hair slicked back with perfection, chuckled and patted his son's back from his spot on the couch.

"How many times have I told you in this game to never listen to your old man?" He smirked just like his daughter and turned to look at the pale beauty.

"Jade, how nice of you to join us. How was Miami?" He inquired. Jade hated lying to him about her double life but he would surely put an end to her lifestyle and their relationship should he find out. Even her brother wasn't in the know and she told him everything.

"As wild as ever, Daddy, but they know how to party." She grinned and her dad nodded with a small smile on his face.

"Like father like daughter." He continued, causing both Jade and Dyson to laugh a little bit.

"You're welcome to play, if you're interested?" He asked, raising a thick eyebrow up in question. The black leather couch creaked slightly as he leaned back into the seat, his blue eyes on her.

"I'll pass. Maybe next time." The pale woman replied, sliding down the arm to sink into the cushion of the leather. Dyson jogged into the other room and came back moments later with a giant chocolate chip cookie, hopping over the back of the couch and landing inbetween his father and sister.

"So, when did you get back?" The dark haired man inquired, blue eyes glancing at his older sister curiously.

"My plane touched down this morning and I did a bit of shopping before I decided to come home." Jade lied smoothly. The shopping part wasn't even a total lie because she did go shopping before stopping at Tori's place and the bags were still in the car.

"Oh, really? Get me anything for my birthday?" Mr. West inquired teasingly with a glint in his eyes. Jade grinned at him and purposely looked away without answering his question.

"I don't know why you insist on getting things every year when you already have everything you want." Dyson smirked in the older man's direction and caused Jade to shrug in response.

"Just because _you_ never know what to get him doesn't mean I'm suddenly losing my fantastic shopping abilities." Jade's acting prowess was most beneficial in these types of conversations because in all reality, she hated shopping as much as she hated discussions such as the one she was having. It was so frivolous and she had no interest in materialistic people, yet this was her family and she loved them dearly. She wouldn't bother dealing with it were it anyone else. Dyson rolled his eyes at her and took a bite out of the dessert in his large hand. Through a full mouth, he said, "Fine, what'd you get him then?" He asked through a mouth full of food. Jade shook her head and reached back to swipe a crumb from the corner of his mouth.

"It wouldn't be a surprise if I told you, now would it?" Jade said with a teasing lilt to her voice. She settled into the comfortable cushions and pulled her knees up to her chest as she wrapped her arms around them. Mr. West's face lit up and he looked at his only daughter, placing his hand on her small shoulder.

"A surprise? I better be thoroughly surprised, then. You set the bar for yourself last year with my wave runner." He laughed with the fondness of the memory.

"Damn, I love that thing." He sighed happily and Dyson licked his fingers clean of the melted chocolate from his treat. Jade's blue eyes cut over to her younger brother as a look of disgust appeared on her face.

"Dyson, don't get that on the couch! We just got it cleaned last week and now here you go getting crumbs and chocolate everywhere!" The pale woman complained with a frown creasing her forehead. Dyson rolled his eyes at her and reached over in a wonderful brotherly fashion to wipe his fingers on her leggings. She used all the reflexes in her body to roll off of the couch just in time.

"You're such a dick!"

"_Jade_! Language." Mr. West mumbled, though it wasn't as if he minded if they cursed around him or not. She muttered a half-hearted apology over her shoulder as she got to her feet. Just as she finished brushing crumbs from the seat of the leather couch, their doorbell echoed throughout the house. Their house keeper, Leanne, scurried through the room toward the front to open the door. The stone tile beneath her feet made her steps nearly silent in her gym shoes as she rushed forward. Jade's eyes locked on the pair of deep brown eyes that met hers over Leanne's head. Her best friend and musical inspiration, Andre Harris, stepped through the threshold. His dreaded hair, dyed blonde on the tips, swung as he walked with his head held high toward his friend since first grade. His lean, muscled arms wrapped around her smaller body in a tight hug. Jade placed her head against his chest as her arms wrapped around his waist and his around her shoulders.

As they stayed in the embrace, Jade could take the time to appreciate his constant scent of green apple and old spice. She hadn't been able to see her best friend for nearly half a year because he was in New York City, recording an album with several different artists under her father's label. They would have recorded in their home town, but her father thought it would be good for them to travel and explore in order to gain inspiration for good music. The dark skinned man pulled back slightly to look at her face and he grinned, showing off his million dollar, white-toothed smile.

"Little Jay. It's been a beat since I've seen you. You still refusing to record something with me?" He asked, the corner of his mouth pulling upward in an amused smile.

"Andre, you know I'd love to but I'm not up for that kind of publicity yet." Jade reflected his offer smoothly, attempting to avoid going into detail. His chocolate brown eyes locked on hers and his lips quirked slightly in an expression that said he didn't buy her excuse, but he let it go. He stepped out of the hug and turned to face the petite, blonde woman behind him. Leanne had always been very fond of Andre, mainly because of his charismatic personality and natural charm. Her pink lips lifted into a grin when he turned his gaze on her and he reached forward with his large hand and ruffled the shorter woman's hair playfully. Andre would confirm to the world that she was like a second mother to him.

The skin around her face had just begun to wrinkle as she entered her late fifties, yet she was just as youthful as the rest of the young adults in the house. Once Jade's father's record label blew up and they relocated to a larger house, Andre would come over and hang out with her a lot. Leanne had looked after them both with a careful eye and stood in like a second mother to them both. She wrapped her arms around Andre's slim waist and patted his back. When she silently walked away toward the back of the house, the darker man turned to look at Jade with question in his eyes. Jade pursed her lips and cleared her throat, waiting until the older woman was out of earshot.

"She doesn't talk anymore. Not for a couple months now. We don't know what happened to her." Jade murmured lowly in Andre's direction. The singer's eyebrows knitted together in concern and he shoved his hands in his pockets with a short nod. Apparently, he didn't want to discuss it further. Mr. West and Dyson got hugged as well by the close family friend. They all took seats on the couch and Dyson kicked his feet up onto the mahogany coffee table. His father shot him a disapproving look, but otherwise did not say anything to dissuade him from his actions. Andre wrapped his arm around Jade's shoulders as she curled up beside him. Jade's father had hopes that she and Andre would get together and they both knew it, yet Andre was the only person that knew of Jade's preference of women, though she did occasionally date guys. In that light, they both knew that to keep away suspicion and to appease Mr. West as Andre's boss and Jade's father, they had to pretend to date. Andre didn't mind, considering that Jade was his best friend and he knew that this was important to her. The sunlight streamed through the floor to ceiling windows and highlighted Andre's face with an angelic glow.

Jade couldn't help the thought that maybe she should just do what would make her father proud and be with Andre. Everything would be so much simpler than having to decide on whether she should come out to her father for Tori and bring the half-Latina into her 'public life'. She would much rather give herself to Andre with a mutual understanding that she couldn't ever fall in love with him and just settle for what was good for her than to lead Tori on and break the brunette's heart when she figured out that Jade was like poison for her. The pale woman knew that she could do nothing but hurt Tori in the long run because the fact was that Jade was selfish and she knew it. She would take and take from those she loved and cared about because that was just what she did. Andre was safe, he knew how she was, and he wouldn't get hurt. Jade couldn't bear the thought of putting Tori through any kind of emotional trauma.

The pale woman shook her head slightly to get away from those thoughts of selling herself out just to appease her father. It was causing too much stress at the moment. So, as Andre sat on the couch with his arm around her shoulders and conversed animatedly with her father and brother, Jade thought of Tori. She thought of the way that the half-Latina's smile could make her stomach drop when it was aimed at her, the way her cheekbones caught so beautifully in the candle light when they were at dinner, and even her bubbly laugh that never failed to make Jade crack a smile whenever she heard it. It was sappy and terrifying, but she couldn't deny that she was falling for Tori Vega, falling hard.

* * *

A knock on the front door startled Tori from deep thought, the quick rapping against wood indicated that it was urgent. She stood warily from the edge of her bed and padded down the hall to the front door. With a quick glance through the peep hole, she unlocked the door and let it swing open. Standing outside with a frantic look on his face was a guy about her age, tall, lean, and muscular. His blond and brown hair was curly and charmingly unruly atop his head. He wore nothing fancy, just a t-shirt and ripped jeans, but his bright, sea green eyes were alight with something she did not understand. "Is Cat home?" He inquired with the raising of one eyebrow. Tori's gaze cut to the side and she shook her head, causing the man in front of her to drop his head in defeat.

"She has my sociology notes." He sighed and then laughed a little, causing both of his dimples to appear on either side of his face. The half-Latina nearly melted at his smile and though she couldn't get Jade out of her mind, she figured that this guy would be a very pleasant distraction.

"Oh, well she may have left them here. She doesn't have that class today. I can help you look?" The brunette suggested with a cute tilt of her lips.

"Sounds great, I'm Luke." The blond flashed his white teeth with a charming smile and leaned on one arm against the door frame. Tori looked him up and down, completely unintentionally, and smiled back. "Tori."

She took a step back to allow him inside and he entered with long, sure strides that gave the impression of hardened leg muscles and long days at the gym. She closed the door and turned to follow him, but when she was facing his back, he swung on one foot so that he was face to face with the half-Latina. Tori gasped in surprise and a small laugh bubbled from her lips.

"You know why I picked sociology?" He asked calmly, resting his hand on the hallway wall. Tori looked up into his sea green eyes and shrugged one shoulder, not completely sure how to answer with anything other than, "No, I guess not."

He took his Pearphone out of his back pocket with a quick ease and flipped it in his other hand, catching it safely as Tori's eyes widened in surprise.

"You take away teenagers', young adults' cell phones, all of them, for a day." He began in a hypothetical tone, his deep dimples flashing on either cheek as he talked.

"They all think, "Oh, God! The world, how do I communicate? How do I tell my followers what I'm having for lunch? How do I ask my friend if they even want to go to lunch? But what's still there that's been neglected for years now, is human beings' constant need for _touch_." He leaned forward slightly as he said it and Tori's pupils dilated instantly with attraction, not just to his looks but to his demeanor as well. In his other hand, the one not against the wall, he dropped his phone to the floor with a clatter and the screen cracked, leaving behind nothing but a web of chasms across the glass. "And I'm tired of talking."

His lips were pressed against hers before she could even think to respond and to her utter astonishment, she had kissed him back in earnest. Maybe it was the dimness of the hallway lights or his enticing speech, but Tori was pushing thoughts of Jade back with valiant effort and caressing her tongue against Luke's. Seconds passed and she parted just slightly, locking her eyes onto his.

"You picked sociology so you could make out with your classmate's friends in their homes?" She smirked a little, a habit she had picked up from Jade.

"No, sweetheart, I picked it because I know what makes people tick."

Tori's eyebrow quirked in confusion and she took a half step back to properly look up at him without their noses touching. "What do you mean?" She asked in the sudden silence of her home.

"I mean that I've proved to Jade that anything she has, I can get. Thanks, Tori Vega. You've been great." He flashed a sly smirk and turned on his heel to march out of the building. Tori's mouth was still open when the door closed behind him and only then did her jaw lock with her teeth clenched together as she turned and slammed the palm of her hand against the wall in anger.

"_God damn it_!" She yelled and stormed back into her bedroom. What the hell was wrong with her? Or was it Jade? Everything involving the other woman was proving to screw with her mind time and time again. She couldn't come up with a single reason why she found it smart to kiss Luke. She could say that she was caught up in the moment, that his eyes were calling to her, that his demeanor was simply irresistible but none of those things changed the fact that she had known him for about three minuets. When she thought about it, however, it was the same way with Jade. She had known her for maybe fifteen minuets more than Luke at the time, but they had still had sex within an hour or so of knowing each other.

What did that say about her? Was she really just that desperate for touch or was there something about Jade that just yanked them together like two powerful magnets, because that's exactly what it felt like. She couldn't seem to escape the raven haired beauty no matter how hard she was trying to find solace in other people. Before she knew it, it was well into the afternoon and she had yet to move from her bed. Several times throughout the day she had picked up her phone with every intention of calling Jade and attempting to get some of the mess in her head sorted out, but every time that she thought about it, her mind would come up with a million reasons why she should put it off just a _little _longer.

She couldn't handle Jade right then, there was no way. The clock on the far side of her room, opposite the bed, ticked off the seconds agonizingly slow. Each minuet that passed was another missed opportunity to call Jade and make her be up front about what they were because the feelings of what Tori was sure had to be love were coming far too early in their relationship for her comfort. Eventually, she let the phone ring, hoping that it would go to voicemail.

"_Who is this?" _The voice on the other line asked calmly and Tori's eyebrows scrunched together as her heart began to race in her chest. Did Jade delete her number? What was happening?  
_  
"Jade?" _Tori murmured softly into the phone, all of her faux confidence being drained away quicker than it had come.

"_I'm joking. How's it going, Sunshine?"_

"I'm not going to lie to you." Tori began slowly, brown eyes on her white ceiling with faint noise seeping through the other line. A spider spun a web in the corner of her lavender bedroom walls. She heard a calm intake of breath from Jade, then a breathy laugh.

"_I'd hope not._" The pale woman remarked. Tori cracked a smile despite herself.

"Your friend Luke paid me a visit. He explained to me, in great detail, why he majored in sociology." The other line was silent for so long that the only reason Tori knew that Jade hadn't hung up was from the quiet murmur of the television in the background.

"_That was nice of him._" Jade finally responded with a slight strain to her voice that Tori would not have picked up on had she not been at the restaurant with Jade when she was treated as if she didn't own the place. Tori clenched her jaw as well as the phone in her hand as her heart thudded against her ribcage.

"Drop the blasé attitude, Jade. You know exactly what he was here for and you know just as well that he got it." The half-Latina was taken aback by the sudden anger that flared throughout her body. One thing she got from her mother was her compassion, but she unfortunately got her father's inability to keep a level-head.

"_It's not my fault you can't keep your lips to yourself. This is exactly why I didn't want anything getting out about us. You aren't my girlfriend. Go do whatever, or whomever, you want." _The raven haired woman replied calmly from the other line. Tori's heard gave a dull thump at Jade's nonchalant answer.

"Jade…" Tori murmured. The spider in the corner of the room made its way down the wall.

"_No, really, what did you expect me to tell you, Tori? That I'm jealous of some snobby asshole who always feels the need to one up me? Don't worry, you don't have to run and tell on yourself every time you-"_

"I'm in love with you, Jade, of course I feel like shit about it-…" Tori cut her off mid-rant, not even aware of the words building up in her throat before she said them. There was no going back after they were out though. The silence on the other end was more deafening than if Jade had started yelling at her. Somehow, the silence was worse. Five seconds dragged by agonizingly slow, though for Tori it felt like hours of her life muted.

"I'm so- I didn't mean that, just forget I-" Tori began to ramble, but Jade's silence was broken with a hesitant, quiet, "_I know. I lo-…" _The pale woman stopped herself from finishing the rest, but right before she hung up, she parted with, "_I know._"

* * *

Jade walked out from the kitchen, the location she had hurriedly escaped to once her phone began buzzing in her hand. Her hands clenched on the counter top and it took every ounce of control she had to release her grip and step away as she tapped _End Call_ on the screen. The situation was spinning out of control quickly and as she inwardly wracked her brain for any type of lifeline, she realized that there was no going back. There was no way for her to simply forget Tori and move on in order to protect herself. She had fallen too quickly, too hard, to back out now. She squeezed her eyes shut against her own frustration and rubbed her forehead.

"_Shit_." She cursed quietly before opening her eyes and turning down the next hallway, opposite the living room. She made her way to the bathroom, second door on the right, and shut the dark wood door behind her. Her bare feet instantly cooled on the cold marble floors as she flicked the lock with her fingers and turned the lights out. In complete darkness, she sank down to the floor with her back against the door and drew her knees to her chest. Her arms wrapped loosely around her legs and Jade rested her forehead against her knees. The pale woman's brain wreaked havoc inside of her head until she was pressing the heels of her hands against her temples in a vain attempt to quiet her mind. Her eyes squeezed shut against the constant onslaught of thoughts and she was only saved from it when a light knock tapped the door behind her.

"Jade come on, I have to do my business." It was Dyson.

"You act like there aren't four other bathrooms in this fucking house." She replied, harsher than she meant, but she wasn't exactly thinking straight at the moment.

There was a muffled chuckle from the other side of the door.

"Just like old times." Jade could almost hear the smirk in his voice as her brother's footsteps faded away and she was left in silence once more. She sneered to herself at his implication. When she was younger, whenever things didn't go her way or she just needed a moment to _slow down_, she would lock herself in the bathroom. When she was eight and her brother was six, she would stay in there and let her brother pee himself waiting for her to come out. She always had put herself first, always had valued having control. When that control slipped, Jade panicked and right then Jade was panicking. She wracked her brain for a solution, any kind. What was going on with her? She had never been that conflicted over anyone in her life…except maybe her mother, conflicted with hating her for leaving or hating her for not bringing her along. The thought of her mother paired with her situation at the moment immediately reminded her of a conversation they'd had when she was very young, only just turning four, right before she left. It had always stuck with her because Jade was almost certain it was that advice she had given her that allowed her to leave her family behind. Jade had been upset over not knowing what talent class to attend after school, acting or ballet. What happened afterward might have very well changed the outcome of her life.

_Four year old Jade glanced up with wide blue eyes, peeking over her covers to catch a glimpse of her mother walking through her bedroom door and sitting on the edge of her bed. Her bright smile was framed by vibrant red lipstick and honey blonde hair fell in beautifully stylish pin up curls. Their equally blue eyes locked and Jade let a small smile tug at her lips. She had always wanted to be as beautiful as her mother._

"_I have something to show you." Jade's mother, Lena, murmured with a gentle smile at her daughter. Jade sat up slowly, her curious gaze continuing to stay trained on her mother. _

"_What?" The pale child inquired as she blinked the tiredness from her eyes. Her mother's smooth, gentle voice washed over her when she began._

"_You know what I do when I'm not sure where to go next in my life?" She asked Jade. The tiny girl with sandy brown hair raised a thick eyebrow at her mother._

"_What?" She repeated._

"_The older woman smiled a bit and held up a shiny quarter between her pointer and middle finger._

"_I leave it to chance. You'll know what your heart really wants when it's in the air, regardless of what it lands on." Jade's fluid blue eyes locked on the small coin in wonder, but then her eyebrows scrunched together._

"_Well you're not leaving it to chance then." The young girl's voice came out quietly in the otherwise silent room. Lena chuckled and kissed Jade's forehead._

"_You always were so smart, baby girl. I love you. Now get some sleep, goodnight." Jade grinned happily hand gladly accepted the quarter that her mother had placed in her tiny palm before she stepped out of the room, closing the door behind her like Jade liked it. _

Jade moved her fingers from her pulsing temple and rubbed her forehead one last time before she stood with conviction. A deep breath pushed through her lungs and she brushed down her sweater before turning around and exiting the bathroom. The lights stung her eyes at first but after blinking the brightness away several times, they adjusted. She hurriedly made her way up the stairs, ignoring the call of her father and Andre in the living room.

Once she was in her room, the door locked behind her, she strided over to her dark wood dresser and gripped a pale blue tin can in her pale hands. It had once held holiday butter cookies, a guilty pleasure of hers, but it was filled with loose change that she didn't know what to do with. She dug around for a little moment until she came across the quarter that her mother gave her all those years ago. She knew it was the right one because when she was around five, she painted it black out of boredom... or anger, possibly both.

She had kept it at the bottom of her shirt drawer before that time, afraid to lose it. After she was able to separate it from the others, she didn't have that problem anymore. She could still make out heads and tails from the worn, black coin. With a deep breath she decided on which side would mean what. Heads, she'll stay out of Tori's life for good and do everything she can to forget about the beautiful half-Latina who had captured her heart so completely. Tails, she will bring Tori into her life entirely, no secrets, no hiding. Her lip became captured between her teeth as she flipped the coin in the air. As it went up and before it came down, Jade knew what she wanted it to land on.

She knew her answer.

* * *

**A/N:** _This one shot kicked my ass for months. It only took months because, well, I was taking my time, haha. No, but really, I wasn't sure if I wanted to leave you all with the cliff-hanger or not, but if you all like it enough to care what Jade picked and what happened next, I'll be glad to write a part-two or like a few mini-oneshots based in this world. Let me know what you think :) Any errors, let me know. Also, don't be afraid to PM me. I love hearing from you guys!_


	2. Chapter 2

**Novacane - Part 2**

* * *

Brown eyes cracked open at the incessant buzzing of her phone on her nightstand. Tori groaned quietly and looked at her alarm clock, her face pulling into a scowl when she saw that it was five in the morning. It had been a day since she had talked to Jade and for her it felt like months. Her long fingers fumbled for the buzzing device before she got it in a solid grip and was able to answer, not bothering to spend the extra energy it would take to look at the name on the screen.

"Hello?" Tori grumbled, her voice still thick with sleep. A husky chuckle came from the other line and the half-Latina's eyes widened, the familiar sound jolting her awake.

"_Morning, Sunshine_. _Listen, I know it's early so I won't keep you long. Can you meet me at that park around the corner from your house in half an hour? I need to talk to you."_

Jade's instructions were simple enough for Tori's half-asleep mind, but the phrase 'I need to talk to you' instantly put her on edge. An odd feeling twisted in her gut as she mumbled out a sleepy, "Okay." and Jade hung up the phone. What could they need to talk about? Other than the that weird thing that happened yesterday, with that guy Luke coming into Tori's apartment under the guise of needing Cat's sociology notes, but who actually came just to prove that he could have anything that Jade had. _That_ needed to be explained. Did he even go to college with Cat? Why did he have their address? Why did he know her _name_? Everything with that situation was too much for Tori to process so early. She blinked up at the ceiling for a few minuets before ripping the covers off and sitting on the edge of her bed. Her face fell into her hands as she attempted to wake herself up…or pull herself together, either worked.

Grudgingly, she stood from her bed and made her way to her dresser, eyes blearily searching for something acceptable to wear. No matter what was going on between her and Jade at the moment, the half-Latina couldn't bring herself to look like a complete bum when she went to go meet her. With a small sigh, tan hands pulled out a maroon sweater and tugged it on over the tank top she had worn to bed. After yanking on a pair of dark jeans, tugging a brush through her hair, and brushing her teeth, Tori snuck down the hall and past the living room to the front door. She wouldn't want to wake Cat, not since the sweet redhead had class early in the morning.

Tori walked briskly through the early morning breeze that whipped her hair around her face. The sun wasn't even peaking over the skyline yet and it was still dark, but she lived in a nice neighborhood so she was nowhere near as anxious as she was walking home from that party. A chill ran up her spine as she thought about what nearly happened to her. Flashbacks of the glass stuck in her hand, the heel of her shoe snapping and her falling to the concrete seconds later. It was horrifying to think of what might have been had Jade not been there to protect her. Was that what the feelings inside of her were about? If not, they must have at least stemmed from the hero worship that Tori had been feeling.

She was shaken and grateful for someone who saved her life. The brunette smiled a little once she was able to rationalize her actions in her own mind, however the truth was that she and Jade just had an instant connection. She considered that maybe the first time she slept with Jade was out of hero worship, but every moment that they shared afterward was real. God, it was so real that it hurt. The hollow throbbing that Tori felt deep in her chest at the last argument she had with the pale woman was a painful reminder. That train of thought brought her back to her original one after Jade called. Why did they need to talk? Maybe she didn't need to talk about that guy, Luke. Maybe Jade finally decided that Tori wasn't good enough for her. The half-Latina had kept the thought at bay over the short time that they'd known each other but it was always there.

Jade was too perfect to be real, and then there was Tori. Tori, who didn't have a job due to the fact that her parents were still sending her more than enough money to keep her afloat, no solid goals or plans for the future, no car, living in her best friend's apartment. She was even procrastinating getting a higher degree that would allow her to make something of herself. Jade didn't need someone like her pulling her down. By the time the tanned woman made it to the park and locked eyes on Jade, who sat on the swings, gently rocking as she checked her phone for the hundredth time, Tori was on the verge of tears. When her red converse crunched in the wood chips, Jade's pale blue eyes looked up from the screen of her cell phone.

"Hey, Sunshine." Jade murmured with a faint smile pulling at the corners of her lips.

"Hi." Tori said and had it not been for the complete silence around them, Jade wouldn't have caught her response. The brunette sat down on the swing beside Jade's and twisted in the seat to face the raven haired woman.

"So, I've been thinking… a lot." Jade started out as she glanced down at her hands while her fingers twisted together and pulled on each other out of nervousness. It was a rare sight, as Jade hardly ever got nervous. Tori's coffee brown eyes locked on Jade's face even though the taller woman wasn't looking at her.

"Thinking a lot about- about us where we're going and… wow I thought this would be easier to say…" Jade trailed off as she gave one last tug at her fingers and sighed through her nose. Unknowingly, Tori had begun to cry, her eyes welling up and spilling over silently. She only noticed when she felt moisture on her collarbone as the tear slid down underneath her sweater. When she reached up to wipe the stray tears from her face, Jade caught the movement out of the corner of her eye and her gaze snapped up to lock on Tori's face.

"Why are you crying?" She asked in genuine concern, eyebrows creasing in the middle and a slightly panicked look in her eyes. Tori shook her head quickly and continued to wipe her thumbs beneath her eyes to get rid of those damn tears.

"Nothing… It's- I'm fine. I'm okay." Tori hastily responded as she tried in vain to play it off. Jade leaned toward her, straddling the swing, and cupped the half-Latina's face in her hands. Their eyes locked and for a few seconds, Tori was almost reassured that everything would be okay.

"Tell me?" Jade asked quietly, her gentle eyes gazing into Tori's sad ones.

"I'm just scared that you're about to tell me that you're leaving. And why wouldn't you, right? I mean, I'm just Tori. Unemployed, pathetic Tori who's not going anywhere with her life." The half-Latina sniffled quietly, blinking back even more tears. Jade's face conveyed the heartbroken feeling that she got in her gut when Tori said those words. There was no way that she would ever see Tori that way. Pale fingers wiped at the residual tears on tan cheeks and Jade leaned forward and captured Tori's lips in a deep, passionate kiss. The brunette froze in surprise for half a second before she returned the kiss in earnest. Their kissing went from intense to slow and languid in a matter of seconds. When Jade pulled back, she had a slightly dazed look in her eyes.

"Don't say that, Tori. I would never leave you. You aren't pathetic, Sunshine. You're perfect. Everything about you is amazing. I asked you to meet me here because I wanted to tell you that I…" The pale woman exhaled through her nose in frustration and leaned forward to place a small kiss on Tori's lips once again.

"I love you, Tori. I love you so fucking much that it's killing me right now because I never want you to feel like you aren't enough for me."

Tori's lips parted in shock at what Jade was telling her, but mainly at what she had just said.

"You love me?"

Jade's mouth curved up in a smile and a chuckle passed through her lips as her eyes glinted in the rising sun.

"Crazy, right?"

Tori's face nearly split in half with the grin that tugged at both corners of her lips. As she leaned forward and wrapped her thin arms around Jade's neck and pulled the other woman closer to her body, she could feel Jade's heart hammering against her chest. Their lips collided and finally Tori could relate to all of those stupidly sappy movies and books that always talk about fireworks erupting and a bunch of other extraordinary feelings that are supposed to happen when you have the perfect kiss with the right person.

Every other time that they kissed was amazing, not to get her wrong, but knowing that Jade loved her completely made the kiss and embrace that they were locked in at the moment a million times more special. They broke apart with the soft sound of their lips separating and the smiles on both of their faces got impossibly larger.

"I love you too, Jade. I love you so, so much." Tori breathed into the centimeter of space between their parted lips. Blue eyes locked on ecstatic brown ones and they stayed that way, reveling in each other's presence until the sun truly began to rise. The orange and red that broke out over the horizon was the perfect backdrop to their cliché movie moment. Jade laughed a little at the irony of it all. She hated clichés almost as much as she hated sappy romances, yet there she was. Tori broke eye contact to glance down at Jade's upturned lips.

"What's so funny, West?" The half-Latina asked playfully, a smile still tugging at her lips as she used the toe of her shoe to push Jade's swing to the side. The pale woman rolled her eyes and leaned her forehead against the chain holding up the swing.

"Nothing, it's just that we're being _really_ cliché and cute right now and it's kind of disgusting." Jade laughed, smirking when Tori pretended to be offended.

"Our romance disgusts you? Oh really?" Tori grinned mischievously at her lover and Jade held up both hands in faux fear.

"Oh God, I'm quaking in my combat boots." She responded dryly, smirk still firmly in place. Tori quirked an eyebrow as if asking her if she was sure that she wanted to go there with her.

"Okay, fine, next time we have sex I'll show you there's nothing disgusting or cliché about it." Tori declared with a teasing glint in her chocolaty eyes. Jade merely scoffed, "Show me _how_? You won't top me. Shit, Vega, you couldn't top a cake." At that, Tori sputtered and her mouth opened and closed several times before she could come up with a response.

"I could _too_ top a cake! _And_ you!"

"Oh really?" Jade mocked Tori from only moments ago and left the half-Latina with an admittedly adorable pout on her face.

"But every time I think about it… you just-I just get distracted…and-"

"But you just-I just-but-but-but-" Jade continued to mock the beautiful woman in front of her with mirth in her eyes. The pale woman was enjoying herself a bit too much at the half-Latina's expense. She loved seeing Tori get all flustered and embarrassed. It was cute, as loathe as she was to admit it, even if it was just to herself. Tori resumed her pouting and Jade couldn't help but to lean over and capture that protruding lip between hers once more. Jesus, the woman tasted like vanilla and smelled like cinnamon. Jade couldn't imagine anyone being as perfect as Tori was. She was hopelessly in love with her and it was fucking great. After that they talked for hours, Jade explaining everything about her family, her mother, how, before Tori, she used to go through lovers like it was nothing, and Tori didn't turn her away once.

If anything, the half-Latina loved her even more, knowing everything about her. In return, Tori told Jade everything. She went into detail about her father's cocaine addiction and how it slowly ruined their family, her obnoxious sister who annoyed her to hell and back but was always there when it counted and loved her deeply, her close relationship with Cat and how they both attended a high school that bred the students to be famous but when her parents split up Tori lost motivation and Cat decided that she wanted to be a marine-biologist instead of a pop star. The sun was fairly high in the sky by the time that their conversation came to a comfortable lull. Jade had never felt that comfortable with a person in her life and being with Tori felt like she was really breathing for the first time. After a few minuets of silence, Jade looked up and met Tori's eyes. The half-Latina quirked an eyebrow in response and the pale woman began to speak.

"You should come back home with me. Meet my dad and brother." Jade suggested. Tori grinned and nodded quickly, pulling out her phone to text Cat that she'd be out for a while and not to worry.

"But before we go, I need you to just trust me on this favor. When we get there, don't mention us. I have a planned way to go about this, so just be your normal, charmingly dorky self, okay?" Jade explained while quirking her eyebrow at Tori to make sure she understood. The tan woman nodded twice and laughed a little at the jab while Jade smiled at her.

Today would be interesting.

* * *

At around eight in the morning, Jade pulled Tori through the front door of her family's home. The look on the half-Latina's face as they pulled up into the winding driveway made Jade have to control her laughter several times already. Once Tori's eyes nearly fell out of her head at the _inside_ of the house, Jade nearly lost her shit. They were greeted by James West walking with quick strides throughout the house as he got ready to head down to the studio to interview some artists to possibly sign. It was a long, strenuous process considering how high the bar was set with their veteran artists and producers.

"Daddy?" Jade called out as he disappeared into the kitchen to retrieve his coffee.

"Yes, sweetheart?" Mr. West responded as he took a step back to look into the living room…except his eyes were down on his iPhone as he communicated with the rest of his colleagues. Jade sighed softly and shook her head.

"I want you to meet Tori. She's a very good friend of mine." The pale woman said, easily switching roles due to so much practice. American sweetheart Jade was out to play.

James lifted his eyes to land on the pretty half-Latina and his charming, perfectly white smile came out full force. He strided toward them and leaned forward to shake Tori's hand, all while giving that perfect politician-type smile.

"Pleasure to meet you, Miss Tori. How long have you been friends with my daughter? Sorry to ask, I just wonder why I haven't seen your face before." He said politely. Tori laughed and didn't hesitate to say, "I've lost track, the time seems to just run together with this one." She responded endearingly as she nodded her head in the direction of Jade who was smiling a bit to herself. James looked between them for a moment as he seemed to contemplate something before he brushed it off and smiled once again.

"Fair enough." He laughed. "I am terribly sorry to cut this short, but I must be going now." He announced before quickly striding back to the kitchen to retrieve his coffee, coming back up to the living room to give Jade a kiss on the forehead, and then he walked out of the door. The brunette turned to look at Jade with raised eyebrows, which Jade didn't notice until the silence finally reached her ears.

"What?" She asked, a confused smile tugging at her lips.

"So this is where big, bad Jade West lives…officially." The half-Latina tacked on as an after thought. Jade wrapped an arm around Tori's slim waist before pulling the half-Latina flush against her body.

"Forget the rest of the house; I'd like to show you my bedroom." Jade murmured huskily in Tori's ear, sending chills down her spine but at the same time shooting heat down between her legs. Tori took a moment to get her thoughts in order before she shook her head dazedly.

"Not that I wouldn't love that…God I would love that." Tori responded, looking at Jade with darkened eyes. She shook her head again, seeming to snap back to herself.

"No, no… we always have sex every time that we're together. I really just want to cuddle with you and watch a movie or something." The half-Latina pleaded with a cute smile pulling at her lips as she wrapped her thin arms around Jade's neck and leaned up slightly to place a kiss on her nose. The pale woman's face scrunched up in a way that Tori found absolutely endearing, yet the blush on Jade's cheeks said that she liked the idea just as much.

"Fine. We'll compromise. I get to pick the movie." Jade responded, tightening her hold around Tori's hips. The tan woman shrugged one shoulder and seemed to consider it for a moment before nodding hesitantly. How bad could a movie with Jade be? She seemed like the type to pick something good to watch. It would be fine.

It was _not fine_. Tori curled into Jade's side with a piercing squeal as she shut her eyes and buried her face into her lover's neck. She frantically tried to get the image of a girl getting her eye stabbed straight through with a pair of rusted scissors out of her mind and holy _shit_ this movie was terrifying. The rich sound of Jade's laugh was in her ear, creating noise over the horrifying shrieks coming from the surround-sound speakers. Tori could feel Jade's chest shaking with laughter as she cowered into the pale woman's side.

"You're such a wimp, Vega. Jesus."

"_You're_ trying to give me a heart attack! I'm _dying_!" The half-Latina declared as she clutched her chest where her heart was hammering against her ribcage in protest.

"_You're _being dramatic. It's not even scary! This is my favorite movie and I'm perfectly fine." Jade attempted to reason, all the while not taking her eyes off of the screen. Tori lifted her head from Jade's neck and looked at Jade incredulously.

"Are you serious? You're _sick_ for liking this stuff!" Tori was only half joking as she teased Jade, though her heart was still beating erratically and she was still too terrified to turn her head in the direction of the massive flat screen. Jade only chuckled and then turned to lock her eyes on Tori's.

"Ah, ah. Correction, I _love_ this stuff." Tori's eyes narrowed slightly as her lips parted, looking at Jade in slight disbelief.

"You're insane." The half-Latina breathed.

"You wouldn't believe how many times I've gotten that in high school. Do I look like I'm worried?" The pale woman smirked with a teasing glint in her eyes as she reached up to brush Tori's cheek with the back of her hand and her blue eyed gaze flickered down to her lover's lips and back up again. Tori's breath hitched in her throat at the small gesture and her pupils dilated in desire, completely unaware of the words that were about to leave her lips.

"You're so beautiful, Jade." The brunette whispered. She blushed and looked off to the side once she realized what had slipped out; meanwhile Jade's heart gave a hesitant flutter in response to the words.

"I'm not." Jade attempted to brush the comment off with a light-hearted shrug and a half smile. The flash of insecurity in her eyes did not go unnoticed by Tori, however, no matter how quickly it had vanished. Tori tilted her head upward and pressed her lips against Jade's forehead for a few seconds before pulling away enough to look her in the eyes.

"I'd never lie to you. The same way that I know you'd always be honest with me, right?" The tan woman raised an eyebrow in question. Jade nodded hesitantly, unsure or maybe just afraid of where Tori was going.

"Then you know that I'm telling the truth when I'm looking you in your eyes and saying that you are _so_ gorgeous, Jade. I feel lucky that you're wasting your time on someone like me, but you told me not to say those things anymore so I won't keep going…" The half-Latina trailed off when she noted that Jade's eyes looked… almost shiny. The pale woman turned her head away for a moment and Tori tried to get a glimpse at the raven haired woman's face, but her gaze was avoided.

After a moment Jade turned around, her gaze still fixed downward, but her cheeks were a lovely shade of pink and Tori honestly just couldn't help it when she leaned forward and captured those lips in a searing kiss that sent jolts of electricity down to her toes and back up to the crown of her head. Jade kissed back, winding her arms around Tori's waist and pulling the half-Latina up on her lap, all the while with the background noise of screams coming to a gurgling silence and sharp objects being buried into unsuspecting flesh.

Tori's hands rested right below Jade's breasts as she subconsciously attempted to grind down on the pale woman for any kind of friction. Jade's hands traveled from her hips to the half-Latina's firm ass and she gripped her body closer to her own. Tori moaned into the pale woman's mouth as Jade captured the brunette's bottom lip between her teeth and tugged on it roughly. Tori's fingers on Jade's ribs dug deep into the skin through her shirt and scratched down the pale woman's toned stomach, enough to leave bright red lines beneath the shirt.

Jade's staggered breathing hitched audibly before a sensual moan tore through her lips. The tan woman only smiled against the lips pressed firmly to hers, filing away the fact that Jade liked it rough even when she was completely sober. The clearing of someone's throat brought them both back to their senses and they pulled away from each other as if they had been burned, though Tori was still straddling Jade's lap. Brown eyes locked on a pair of blue ones that were identical to Jade's. The pale woman tilted her head back to look over the couch and she scowled deeply when she realized who had interrupted them.

"I thought you were out? Why are you here?" She demanded, making no move to get the baffled half-Latina off of her. Dyson stared at them in contained shock, his mouth opening and closing several times in an attempt to answer her question. Instead, he asked one of his own.

"You're gay?" He sputtered out eventually, eyebrows scrunching together in confusion and Jade's eyes rolled in annoyance.

"Wait, who is this?" Tori asked, her hands now on Jade's shoulders and squeezing slightly in anxiety.

"My brother." Jade answered curtly, still not answering his question. Tori's chocolate eyed gaze flicked back up to Jade's younger brother.

"Dyson?" She said hesitantly and the man ran a hand through his wavy hair, moving his eyes from Jade's to Tori's.

"And who are you?" He inquired with complete confusion still written all over his face.

"I'm Tori. Vega." Dyson nodded a bit to himself before he met Jade's eyes again.

"You're gay?" He asked once more in perplexity.

"Who's gay?" A voice came from the kitchen. Seconds later another man emerged around Dyson's age. Blond hair, brown eyes, and a lean but muscular body greeted them all. Dyson looked back at his friend with his mouth still partially open and jerked his thumb in Jade's direction.

"Jade." He responded, clearly still in shock.

"Jesus Christ." The pale woman sighed; while rubbing her forehead with her thumb and forefinger, Tori hesitantly climbed off of her lap and took her original spot next to her on the couch.

"And who the hell is he?" Jade asked, looking back up with an irritated expression on her face. Dyson looked back down at Jade and shrugged a shoulder as if the information was unimportant.

"That's Scott. We were playing football with a few friends out back a little while ago, then we came in and I heard you two…making out or whatever, so answer my question." Dyson demanded with his bewilderment still evident on his face. Jade sighed and stood up suddenly, a severely aggravated expression on her face.

"_Yes_, I like women and I like men, but I like Tori more than all of them and she just fucking _happens_ to be a woman so can you just shut the hell up for two seconds so that I can think? And for the love of God, can you get him out of here?" Jade yelled, pointing in the direction of a startled Scott who stood there staring at her with wide eyes.

"I don't need the whole damn neighborhood to know before I announce it myself." Her hostile gaze cut to Scott once more and she glared at him menacingly.

"That means keep your goddamn mouth shut. _Got it_?" Scott's eyes bulged and he nodded his head frantically, stumbling backward and tripping over his own feet to make it past the kitchen and finally run through the front door. With a heavy sigh, Jade lowered herself back down to the couch and wrapped her arm around Tori's thin shoulders. The creamy leather couch made a slight noise as they readjusted themselves but other than that there was nothing but silence. After a moment, Jade took a glance over her shoulder and noted Dyson still standing there, completely out of his element.

"Why are you still here?" Jade asked forcefully, causing her younger brother to blink himself out of his stupor and follow Scott's previous footsteps out of the door. He trudged past the couch and then the kitchen with a disbelieving look on his handsome face. Jade merely rolled her eyes at how unnecessary that entire exchange was. Tori turned her head away from the gory scenes still playing out on the television and trailed her gaze along the smooth curve of Jade's milky jaw line, the muscles there tensing and releasing every second in agitation.

"That went well." Tori attempted to joke but she could tell that there was something wrong, something other than her brother's reaction to them kissing.

"What's wrong? Tell me." Coffee brown eyes searched Jade's face for any kind of giveaway to what she was feeling but there was none.

"Nothing, I just-" Jade cut herself off with a frustrated huff as she stared straight ahead.

She ran her tongue over the front of her teeth before she made herself continue.

"If that's how Dyson and his idiot friend reacted, what's going to happen when I try to tell my dad tonight? Or what will happen when the neighbors find out, or even worse, the press? I don't- I can't have you _out_ like that. There are certain people that don't need to see you…affiliated with me. In any way." Jade murmured the last part, her azure eyes never leaving the white wall ahead of her with the violent images of _The Scissoring_ playing in her peripheral. Tori's eyebrows scrunched together in a way that indicated that she needed further explanation, but with the way that Jade's jaw was set, she doubted that she would receive any.

"Okay…" Tori dragged out as her eyes jumped from object to object while she thought of a solution.

"Maybe we can start with your dad, start small. Then if you still feel that it's a bad idea to go public, I'll support that. I'm not here for the fame, Jade. I just want you." Tori said softly, her honest eyes still trying to meet Jade's. Finally, the taller woman turned her gaze to meet adoring, chocolaty ones.

"I love you so much." Jade murmured as she tilted her head downward to peck Tori on the lips. After she pulled away, her hands reached for the TV remote and turned the screen off.

"Let's go upstairs. I actually don't mind the whole cuddling thing." Jade smirked a little and kissed the side of Tori's head before standing up and pulling the half-Latina with her.

She would never get tired of this, never get tired of Tori.

At nearly four in the afternoon, James West walked through the thick mahogany door with his jacket slung over one arm and his keys dangling from his other hand. At the sound of the alarm system announcing that the door had opened, Jade pulled Tori up from their comfortable spot on her king sized bed and practically dragged the other woman down the stairs.

Tori giggled at Jade's determined mind, considering that hours ago the pale woman seemed to be terrified of telling her father about them. Once they reached the base of the stairs, Jade saw her father sitting at the dining room table as he looked over resumes for the new artists and producers one last time before he made his decision. At Tori and Jade's entry, his dark blue eyes rose from the sheets in front of him and landed on the two young women standing in the doorway. Jade pulled Tori to sit across from the slightly graying man, pale hands folding in front of her on the burgundy placemat. The half-Latina fidgeted with her fingers as she nervously glanced at Jade every few seconds.

Jade held her father's stare for almost a minuet before she came right out with it.

"Tori is my girlfriend." She declared. She was simply glad to have that part out of the way without any stressful buildup. James sighed quietly to himself before raising his tired eyes to lock on his daughter.

"Is this another one of those stunts like the ones you pulled in high school when you were younger? Like when you got those tattoos and all of those holes in your ears and face? Because if it is, whatever you're aiming to achieve with me Jade, this isn't the way to-"

Jade cut him off by raising her hand and shaking her head quickly, "No, this isn't some joke, Daddy. I'm telling you like this because I care so much about Tori that I need to make this official, make it _real_. And how else to do that than by 'meeting the parents', right?" The raven haired woman chuckled a bit in relief when her father cracked a smile at them.

"I'm not going to get into the conversation about your sexual orientation, mainly because that is a conversation no father wants to have with his children and I trust that you know what you're doing, Sweetheart, I do. But do know that if you decide to go public with this, things could get very stressful for you and for this family. If you decide to take on that burden, I suggest you take that up with everyone that will be affected." He began, his fingers pressed together at the tips and palms separated in front of him as he rested the sides of his wrists on the table. The clock against the wall behind him ticked in the sudden silence until it was drowned out by the sound of the ice maker dropping the frozen water into the freezer in the kitchen. Finally, the business man continued, he eyes moving from his hands to look at Tori finally.

"I'm sure you are a great girl, you seem very nice and I approve of you being with my daughter because I can foresee you keeping her out of trouble, but I just need you both to remember that there are consequences for everything. Every _action_ has a _reaction_. That's something that my father taught me at a young age and it's something that I am imparting on the two of you. Just be careful, yes?" He finished with his eyes back on Jade. The pale woman nodded and released the breath she hadn't realized she was holding when the older man stood from his seat, gathered his papers into a neat file folder, and disappeared across the hall into his study. Jade's eyes snapped to attention when she heard a shuddering breath being let out beside her. Her eyebrows quirked in confusion and Tori met her perplexed gaze.

"Your dad scares the shit out of me." Tori admitted with a nervous laugh.

Jade laughed full out and grinned as she leaned forward and pressed a kiss against Tori's cheek.

"You're telling me."

* * *

Later on that same night, at the sound of the doorbell, Jade went downstairs to see who was at her front door while it was nearing midnight. Through the window on the side of the door, Jade's jaw tensed and her eyes hardened as she met the green eyed gaze on the other side. When she jerked the door open, she blocked the small amount of space she left with her body, blocking the visitor from any view of the inside.  
"What do you want, Luke?" She spat viciously, anger rising high at the mere sight of the man standing before her. His attractively messy hair sat in a curly style upon his head, wearing nothing but a pair of acid washed jeans, a pair of Chucks, and a band t-shirt.

"I see you caught on to our little game…which is odd because you're usually two steps back while I'm five ahead." He responded with a nearly undetectable sneer on his lips. He couldn't hide everything though, no matter how much he tried.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Jade said defiantly, but that only made Luke's faint sneer morph into a full on grin.

"Don't you? But I think you do. Otherwise you wouldn't have taken your pretty little Latina from her house and brought her to your own personal safe haven… it's a good thing I want nothing to do with the redhead or I would have thought you lost your touch." His grin morphed into a smirk as Jade's nostrils flared, the only sign of emotion that broke through her façade. The pale woman's mouth opened for her to respond when they both froze at her name being called from upstairs. Luke's smirk turned into a chilling smile as his eyes moved from somewhere over her shoulder, where Tori's voice would be coming from were he able to see into the house, back to the bright blue ones in front of him.

"Claim the streets all you want, West. Charity starts at home…and you can't keep her safe forever. Then, once she's gone, you'll be finished and I'll be where I belong." He grinned sickeningly and left a chill gripping at the blue eyed woman's spine.  
"At the top. And I always get what I want, Jade. Remember that." In silence, Jade watched him walk down the street to his car, a rugged mustang too old to be considered safe to drive consistently. Once she made sure he was gone and not lurking outside of her house, she closed the door soundly. Though, she turned on the alarm system before she headed back to her room.

Tori was on the bed, wearing nothing but her panties and one of Jade's t-shirts which were too big in the chest area for her thin body and therefore came to right below her butt. Brown eyes glanced up from her phone as Jade entered the room and she wasted no time in asking, "Who was at the door?"

The pale woman rolled her eyes and acted as if it had been no one of importance.

"Some guy. He had the wrong house, he was looking for the one across the street. Genius." She smirked and untied her silk robe, laying it across the foot of her bed before she crawled under the covers with Tori in nothing but a t-shirt and a thong. Tori laughed a little, turning the screen of her phone off and setting it on the nightstand before turning over and wrapping her arms around her girlfriend.

"So I'm your girlfriend, huh?" Tori whispered into Jade's quickly reddening ear. The pale woman avoided eye contact and huffed quietly.

"What else was I supposed to say? 'Hey Daddy, I'm in love with this woman, but we're not together, we just fuck a lot?'" Tori laughed at the mocking tone that Jade used for her hypothetical quote.

"It wouldn't have been a lie." The half-Latina offered, but Jade just turned around and wrapped her milky arms around Tori's thin waist.

"But it wouldn't have been the truth either. You're more than just some woman, Vega. I actually like putting up with you." She smirked, getting the reaction that she hoped for when she began her sentence.

"Put up with?" Tori gasped, laughing as she tried to smack Jade's arms away, but the pale woman just pulled her closer to her body and peppered her face and neck in kisses that made Tori's heart hammer in her chest. Her laughter turned to giggles and eventually they were trapped in each other's gaze, smiling hugely.

"You're perfect." Jade murmured with her lips pressed gently against Tori's forehead as she closed her eyes. The half-Latina grinned into Jade's neck and kissed the spot over her pulse softly before replying.

"Almost as perfect as you." Tori whispered and as Jade's cheeks heated up at the compliment, she firmly believed that everything would turn out alright for them.

* * *

A month passed, a period of time where everything was perfect. Tori and Jade went out on dates regularly, completely enamored with each other and the time that they spent together. Jade flew Tori and Cat out to New York City over spring break as a sort of thank you. Though she would never admit it out loud, the two of them were the closest that anyone had ever come to accepting her whole-heartedly besides Andre.

She would have even invited him, but her father had him stay in Los Angeles to finish recording his album a new talent he had picked up, stage named Lady. It was a big deal for James West that month, because Lady raked in nearly eight million dollars from her first single. When business was fresh and new, James worked later hours and Dyson as well as Jade pretty much had the house to themselves.

When Jade, Tori, and Cat returned in time for the redhead's classes, Tori spent most of her time at the West house. Of course, Cat spent her spare time over there as well after her and Jade's friendship skyrocketed. Dyson had his eye on Cat, Jade could tell. He was not at all obvious about it, or obnoxious about it, being the gentleman that he was. Tori found it adorable when in the middle of them all entertaining themselves with a game of Scrabble in their free time, Dyson took his chance to ask Cat out finally.

"Okay, I'm going to spell _date_." The lean man grinned as he placed his letters on the board, connecting them with the letter A in the word 'retail'. His eyes locked on Cat's with a meaningful look that she raised an eyebrow at.

"Date? But, you have-" The paused and tilted her head a bit to glance at his letters.

"You have an F and another E… you could have spelled 'fated' and gotten a letter on the space to triple your score." She pouted slightly as her thick eyebrows scrunched together.

"I know. As great as you are at choosing words, how about you choose a restaurant for me to take you to sometime?" He asked, flashing an endearing smile in the other woman's direction. The redhead gave a tiny squeak and glanced to Tori and Jade, who sat close enough to practically be in each other's laps, but Jade with her amused smirk and Tori with a giant grin on her face, only nodded their heads in approval. Cat flashed her large brown eyes back to nervous blue ones and she nodded happily.

"Of course…" She blushed and laughed away her nerves. She had her eye on him for a while, too.

But, that month was all of the peace that they got. Tori felt something odd in the pit of her stomach when Jade dropped her and Cat back at their apartment one night. She didn't want to mention it or anything because the night had been going so well and she knew how protective Jade was of her, so she said nothing. Usually, Jade would have her guys watch the perimeter of their apartment during the night.

Tori had no idea why since Jade had only told her that it made her feel better knowing that her girlfriend was safe. For some reason, two of the guys were in the hospital for a brutal fight they had gotten in a day prior and the other three had to make drug runs that night. Jade hoped that since everything had been pretty quiet over the month, one night wasn't going to hurt anyone. She circled around the area for about two hours before convincing herself that she was being paranoid and finally drove home. The farther she drove, the worse the feeling in her gut got and after she had gotten twenty minuets away, she turned back with a frustrated groan and the ever-increasing speed of her car.

The milky streetlights illuminated the street once she pulled back up to Tori's street, blue eyes scanning any sign of anything out of the ordinary. Reaching over as the feeling continued to worsen; she snapped the glove compartment open and grabbed her handgun, loading it with an ease and quickness that suggested years of practice. The raven haired woman squinted up at where Tori and Cat's floor would be and noticed the lights in the windows. The one in Cat's room typically stayed on all night due to her studying for tests or staying up late to write papers, however, tonight the lights were off. All of them.

This was only odd because Tori would be staying up as well since she had to call and check on her mother and Aunt Sonya who had gotten some sort of stomach virus after going out to eat. Tori told her that, anyway. Jade shook her head and rolled her eyes at herself. It took her nearly an hour to get halfway home and back to the apartment, she probably talked to them already. Just to make sure, Jade called Tori's phone. It rang…and rang…and then voicemail. Next, she tried Cat's phone, which went straight to voicemail. With an aggravated sigh, she tried Tori's phone again and her breath caught in her chest when she heard who answered.

"_Hello, Jade. Do you know where your girlfriend is_?"

"Luke, I swear to God if you even _touch _her-"

"_I think it's a little too late for that, isn't it? Right, Tori?" _He chuckled as he seemed to be talking facing away from the phone. An outraged and panicked grunt came muffled from the other end of the line.

"_I'll take that as a yes_." He laughed through the phone.

"I will kill you. I promise they won't find your body." Jade gritted out, deadly serious.

"_You would have to find me first, Sweetheart. I think I'll start with the cute redhead first, then work my way up. Good luck to you though, I won't deny that. I'm a good sport." _His lighthearted voice sent disgusted chills down her spine and made her cringe with hatred. Her hands were shaking so badly that she had to set the gun down on the seat beside her. The line went dead and something that he had told her last time she had seen him nagged at the back of her mind until the memory was finally unearthed.

"_Claim the streets all you want, West. Charity starts at home…and you can't keep her safe forever." _Jade's blue eyes widened in shock and then in blood-boiling fury as she realized where he was keeping them. Her tires squealed on the pavement as she made a sharp U-turn in the direction of her house in the slums.

Tori yanked against the restraints keeping her hands tied behind the back of the dark wood chair. She couldn't see very well through the darkness and her only light was the small amount of moonlight that filtered into the boarded up windows. The strip of duct-tape over her mouth was frustrating and the thought that she could die at any moment had her jerking around in her seat for any type of escape. She couldn't help but blame herself.

Maybe if she had spoken up about the bad feeling in her gut, or maybe if she had taken Jade up on her offer right after they had first met, when she said that if she didn't want to take the risk of being with her, it was perfectly fine. Yet, even as she struggled in vain to get out of her bindings before that Luke guy came back, she couldn't bring herself to regret any second that she had spent with Jade. If she had to die tonight, she felt like the past month or so was worth it. She was happy for the first time in a very long time and it was amazing while it lasted.

The feeling of desperation rocketed up her spine as soon as she heard footsteps. She knew that they had taken Cat too, but the redhead was obviously in another room, most likely just as terrified as she was if not more so. Luke stepped through the door and sent a beaming grin in her direction. Her only thought at that exact moment was that she hoped Jade would kill him after her was done with her.

"Seems like your girlfriend is smarter than we thought. A couple of my guys are following her over here, though between you and I, I have no doubt that she'll lose them on the way here. But this does mean that our time together is shorter, so I'm going to get on with it." Luke continued to smile in that sickeningly charming way of his.

He grabbed a handgun from the nightstand a few feet away from Tori's chair and loaded it quickly. He pointed it at her and clicked the safety off. As Tori's eyes widened and her heart thundered in her chest, he laughed at her reaction.

"Oh man, everyone makes the same face, every time I do this. It's great." He breathed as he ran his free hand through his hair before shrugging to himself.

"Fuck it. If she makes it over here and somehow stops this, I want her to remember me every time that she fucking looks at you." He grinned and without warning whipped the butt of the gun across her head, knocking her backward a bit before the chair settled on the floor once again. A thin trail of blood traveled from the wound in her head, down her cheekbone, and over the tape to her jaw.

A loud groan came from behind the tape as he lifted his foot and swung it around, placing a solid kick to her ribs and throwing her chair far back enough that it fell backward and the brunette banged her head on the hardwood floor. A harsh, ragged breath pushed through Tori's nose as she tried her hardest not to black out, but that task only got harder once he walked over and stomped on her stomach and the area of her ribcage. Tori's muffled cries got louder and more panicked with every attack he made on her body.

The half-Latina could hear tiny little _pops _off in the distance, but her hearing could be playing tricks. She could barely feel herself anymore and she was on the very edge of unconsciousness by the time that the door was kicked in on her left. Through hazy eyes, all she saw was a blurry, pale figure lifting a gun at her attacker and not hesitating in the slightest before pulling the trigger, sending the bullet straight through Luke's brain without another thought. The last thing Tori remembered before everything going black was blue eyes trying to stay on hers and that soothing voice that she loved so much apologizing over and over again and assuring her that Cat was safe.

* * *

When Tori came to, a day later, Jade was nowhere to be found, but apparently the brunette was in much worse condition than Cat since the redhead clearly had not been the target. A nurse with blonde hair and kind green eyes was wrapping her wounds when Tori opened her eyes completely, taking in the white walls and floors and inhaling the sickly sharp smell of antiseptic.  
"Where's Jade?" she grumbled out immediately. Her voice was hoarse from screaming and non-use, she could barely understand herself but the nurse looked at her with questioning eyes.

"Who is Jade?" She asked patiently, her eyebrows creasing as she waited for Tori to elaborate.

"I need to see her. I need to tell her-" Tori broke off into a coughing fit after a moment and the nurse calmly tilted a cup of water into her mouth to drink. The cool liquid soothed her burning throat and gave her a moment of peace since she woke up. Once Tori got herself back together, she finished.

"I need to tell her I love her. She saved me." Tori rasped with a growing frown creasing her forehead at the effort it took to just say that.

"Is she the dark haired woman? The one that brought you here?"

Tori nodded, sure that the person described had to have been Jade. The fluorescent lights flickered slightly above them and suddenly the smell of antiseptic and bleach was overwhelming her senses.

"Sorry. She dropped you and a redheaded girl off and left just as quickly." The blonde woman replied with an apologetic smile. Through Tori's hazy thoughts, she had no doubt that Jade was off hiding the body of her near-murderer. Oddly enough, that made her feel even safer. Jade saved her life, again. Her hero. Tori's thoughts began to blend together from all of the pain medication they had her on and soon enough she was asleep once again.

When Tori woke once more, things were much clearer than her previous bleary vision and slurred thoughts. The rushing was gone from her ears and the pain throughout her body had drastically minimized thanks to the pain killers. She blinked several times in an attempt to get her bearings, though the sharp smells did not leave and the brightly lit room was messing with her senses.

Finally, her chocolate brown eyes locked on a pair of concerned blue ones, down to the gentle slope of the bridge of her nose, then the soft curves of Jade's perfect lips. Through her daze, Tori felt her lips pull up in a smile and as her hand reached to grasp the pale one only several inches away, Jade murmured a quiet, "Don't." and moved her hand instead. Their fingers interlocked and warmth shot through the half-Latina at the innocent caress.

"The nurse said you wanted to tell me something?" Jade began with a small smile tugging at the corners of her lips. Tori thought back to the last time that she had been conscious and with a slight furrow of her eyebrows, she dug through her memories to uncover what she may have said. When she finally remembered, her face heated up immediately.

"Oh… just that I love you. That you saved my life, again." The half-Latina attempted a small laugh but her throat was still sore and it hurt like hell.

"I love you too. I'd save your life again to make it up to you… I'm so sorry, Tori." Jade murmured, her blue eyes locked on their intertwined hands as her pale thumb stroked the back of Tori's hand. The tan woman looked at Jade in confusion as her words sunk in.

"Why? You saved me."

"But I also promised you that I'd never let anything happen to you if you stayed with me. Remember? Our first date. I try so hard not to break promises because I want mine to actually mean something, but I screwed up and something was fucking _telling_ me to go back and it took me _so long_-" Jade began to almost plead with Tori, as if trying to make sure she knew that she had not meant for any of that to happen to her. The half-Latina had cut her off by squeezing her hand gently and shaking her head.

"I know, Jade. It's okay, I'm not mad. I don't blame you." Tori rasped quietly, her eyes locked in an intense gaze into shining blue ones. She had never seen Jade cry before, though she doubted that the pale woman would let a tear fall.

"Damn it, Tori! Why not? No, don't answer that, because I blame myself enough for the two of us. I should have left you alone, I won't- I_ can't_ drag you into this again. You don't deserve to be with someone as toxic as me. I'm obviously not good for you." Jade ranted, though her voice never reached the shouting point, and Tori could see that she nearly hated herself for putting her in danger. Once Jade saw the tears dripping from Tori's deep brown eyes, she paused.

"Are you leaving me? Jade, don't… not over this." Tori pled quietly, her voice still raspy from her previous condition.

"I just got you back, don't take that away. I love you." The half-Latina continued when she began to see Jade's resolve crumble. The raven haired woman looked down at her lap for a long moment, her midnight hair curtaining around her face and shielding her from view. After a while, she looked up and drew in a shaky breath.

"Okay, fine. But I'm not letting you out of my sight or out of one of my men's sight. I can't go through this again… I'm sure you can't either." Jade murmured, feeling slightly odd about caring after someone so much. Had it been anyone else, Jade probably would have deemed them to be a hindrance and left them without a goodbye for her own safety. Though, this was Tori and for reasons not completely known, she cared about this dorky, beautiful woman with her mega-watt smile and beautiful brown eyes and caring soul. She was different, and Jade didn't know how she even got by before without her.

Tori just nodded and smiled that million dollar smile that Jade loved so much.

* * *

A year later, on the exact date that they had begun dating officially, Jade surprised Tori with dinner at the restaurant in which they had their first date. The place looked exactly the same, but it was void of that kid who was oblivious to the fact that Jade West owned the establishment. They were seated at the exact same table in the very same private room.

The candle lights flickered around them and casted an intimate glow on both of their faces. The past year had been perfect, to say the least. One of the highlights being that Cat and Dyson were probably the cutest couple they had ever seen. The little redhead and the slightly younger West sibling hit it off immediately. One might even argue that they were nearly as inseparable as Tori and Jade were, if that were possible.

Jade was just happy that her brother found someone who would never treat him wrong and Tori was glad that Cat found someone who would take her seriously and really love her. Thinking about love, Tori's eyes found Jade's across the table and a smile tugged at her lips at the thought of all of the perfect little moments that they shared on a regular basis. Jade's cerulean eyes met hers in curiosity and she chuckled at her girlfriend's staring.

"What?" The blue eyed woman inquired with a smirk on her lips.

"I can't admire you?" Tori asked with a mock pout forming on her face. Jade's hands reached over and gripped one of Tori's in both of hers, then with a very serious expression on her face, she said, "No."

Tori laughed at her girlfriend's dry humor and rolled her eyes. "When have I ever listened to you?" She teased, and Jade nodded and shrugged her shoulders in agreement.

"By the way, the first time you took me here, what was up with the lack of menus?" Tori asked with a slight frown as she thought back to the year before. The pale woman laughed and her lips pursed in order to hide her smirk.

"I actually told the manager not to bring any out while we were walking over here. I knew what was on the menu, but I was honestly just fucking with you." A husky chuckle floated across the table and never failed to make Tori smile, even when Jade was doing something less than acceptable.

"Oh, Jade." Tori just shook her head and looked at her lover with a faux-pitying look. The pale woman rolled her eyes and pushed Tori's hands away playfully.

"Shut up."

"So, where are the menus this time?" The chocolate eyed woman asked and sighed when Jade grinned once more.

"I told him not to bring them." Jade responded with the grin that she only got when she knew she was on the verge of driving Tori insane. It was a bit smug that night.

"_Why_, Jade?"

"Don't worry about it."

Nearly ten minuets after they ordered, the appetizers of breadsticks and butter were brought in to them by a beautiful Italian man with a lovely accent and a gracious attitude. Once he left and Tori enjoyed the breadsticks in comfortable silence, Jade only eating one out of the five brought in. Azure eyes traveled across Tori's face, her gaze scanning over the scar at the top of Tori's forehead from the mess they were in last year. The half-Latina told her it was probably from when Luke had smashed the butt of the gun into her head.

Jade shook herself from those thoughts and kept her gaze on the coffee brown eyes ahead of her once the half-Latina got to the bottom of the bowl. Confusion flickered over her eyes and then disbelief, followed quickly by her hands reaching up and clamp over her mouth in order to stop her gasp. Jade's face lit up at the reaction and with a steady hand, she reached into the off-white bowl and gripped the beautiful diamond ring between her fingertips.

She stood and walked beside Tori's chair, the dark wood polished and sturdy as she kneeled beside it on one knee. The half-Latina's breath was stuck in her throat and she hesitantly held out her hand, completely feeling as if she were in a dream while tears streamed down her face.

Jade slid the ring on her finger with patience that made Tori want to yell for her to just do it already, but once it was on, pale fingers intertwined with tan ones.

"Victoria Vega," Jade began with a large smile playing on her lips and complete happiness in her eyes.

"I think I loved you from the second I met you. If not then, then certainly right after. You were absolutely helpless and I had no idea what to do with you, but you had a light in you completely different from anyone I had ever met. I'm so fucking _happy_ now because of you… I'd like to think that I make you happy too. So, if you'd let me, I would like to make you smile and be as happy as you make me for the rest of your life." Jade finished, her eyes shining with a thin layer of tears as a million emotions coursed through her body at once.

Her heart was pounding in her chest and her ears in the time that it took Tori to get over her shock and joy and nod frantically, throwing her arms around Jade's neck and practically tackling the taller woman to the floor. Jade's laughter bubbled up at the acceptance and they seemed to hug each other without the intention of ever letting go.

* * *

**A/N: **Okay, so since literally all of you asked, demanded (or threatened) me to make part two, here it is lol. It's about half as long as the first chapter which is pretty good because 20k plus words were probably a lot to upload at once haha. I have an outline for a sequel written out for their marriage and things so stay with me :)

Thanks for the amazing response on the first chapter. I love you guys :)


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